Metals in supramolecular chemistry

• Examples of metal-based advancements in supramolecular chemistry are presented.
• The pre-supramolecular age is briefly described.
• Metals have proved useful as templates for a variety of self-assembly processes.
• They form coord. polyhedra, polymers, molecular machinery, devices, logic gates.
• They are involved in bio-inspired model systems, diagnostics and therapy tools.

Metals have played a fundamental role in the development of supramolecular chemistry. The main steps taken from the pre-supramolecular age to the present time are retraced with a brief description of salient examples from the unconscious use of gold nanoparticle in the preparation of the Lycurgus cup (5th or 4th century B.C.) to the modern use of metals as templates, for the preparation of large self-assembled structures, of molecular sensors, switches, motors and machines, for mimicking biological processes, for tissue and organ imaging or for the application of the Boolean logic at the molecular level.

This review describes the principal steps that supramolecular chemistry have moved forward, with the help of metals, to get to the central position it now occupies on the stage of modern science and technology.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide