Charge-Assisted Hydrogen-Bonding Enables Quantitative Multicomponent Self-Assembly in Strongly Polar Environments

Area of Science:

• Supramolecular Chemistry
• Materials Science
• Organic Chemistry

Background:

• Multicomponent discrete assemblies are valuable functional constructs.
• Assembly relies on cooperativity and directional noncovalent interactions.
• Many interactions fail in polar solvents, unlike coordination bonds.

Purpose of the Study:

• Introduce a versatile alternative to existing molecular assembly methods.
• Demonstrate the formation of stable assemblies in polar environments.
• Utilize charge-assisted hydrogen bonding and chelate cooperativity.

Main Methods:

• Employing amidinium-carboxylate salt bridges for molecular assembly.
• Designing a hexacomponent assembly with tetracarboxylate porphyrins and diamidine linkers.
• Conducting assembly in DMSO-rich environments.

Main Results:

• Achieved quantitative formation of a [2+4] hexacomponent assembly.
• Demonstrated remarkably high kinetic and thermodynamic stability.
• Validated the effectiveness of amidinium-carboxylate salt bridges in polar solvents.

Conclusions:

• Amidinium-carboxylate salt bridges offer a robust alternative for molecular assembly.
• This method enables the creation of stable supramolecular constructs in polar media.
• The developed [2+4] assembly showcases significant stability and formation efficiency.