A Coordination-Driven Self-Assembly and NIR Photothermal Conversion Study of Organometallic Handcuffs

Area of Science:

• Supramolecular Chemistry
• Organometallic Chemistry
• Materials Science

Background:

• Coordination supramolecular complexes are of interest due to their topological structures and applications.
• Controlled synthesis and property studies of organometallic handcuffs remain challenging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and synthesize a series of tetranuclear organometallic and heterometallic handcuffs.
• To investigate their photothermal conversion properties.

Main Methods:

• Rational design utilizing a quadridentate pyridyl ligand (tetra-(3-pyridylphenyl)ethylene).
• Synthesis of complexes based on Cp*Rh (Cp* = η⁵-C₅Me₅) fragments.
• Characterization using single-crystal X-ray diffraction, ESI-MS, and NMR spectroscopy.

Main Results:

• Successful synthesis of tetranuclear organometallic and heterometallic handcuffs with varying sizes and metal types.
• Demonstrated influence of Cp* groups' photoquenching effect and intermolecular π-π stacking on photothermal conversion.
• Markedly different photothermal conversion efficiencies observed.

Conclusions:

• The study successfully synthesized novel organometallic handcuffs with tunable photothermal properties.
• Findings provide insights into structure-property relationships for photothermal conversion.
• This work advances the synthesis of topological structures and photothermal materials.