Friday, 15 September 11:00am – 12:00pm

This seminar will be delivered in Chemistry Lecture Theatre 2

Speaker: Prof. Jonathan R. Nitschke, University of Cambridge

Host: Dr Alex Yuen and Dr Marcello Solomon

Title: Molecules in Metal Boxes

Abstract: Simple organic subcomponents can come together around metal-ion templates to produce intricate hollow capsules,[1] which can bind guest molecules selectively. This talk will describe the design and uses of some of these three-dimensional architectures, a few of which are shown in Figure 1 below, along with the use of the same construction principles to produce interlocked structures –  atenanes[2] and knots[3] – and double-helical metallopolymers with potentially useful optoelectronic properties.[4]

Figure 1. From left to right: an antiaromatic-walled cage;[5] a capsule isomorphous to ferritin;[6] a capsule capable of stereoselectively functionalizing fullerenes,[7] a dodecahedral capsule with enough interior volume to house a small protein,[8] and a capsule that discriminates between and selectively binds steroids.[9]

References

1] D. Zhang, T. K. Ronson, J. R. Nitschke, Acc. Chem. Res. 2018, 51, 2423-2436.

[2] C. S. Wood, T. K. Ronson, A. M. Belenguer, J. J. Holstein, J. R. Nitschke, Nature Chem. 2015, 7, 354-358.

[3] J. P. Carpenter, C. T. McTernan, J. L. Greenfield, R. Lavendomme, T. K. Ronson, J. R. Nitschke, Chem 2021, 7, 1534-1543.

[4] J. L. Greenfield, D. Di Nuzzo, E. W. Evans, S. P. Senanayak, S. Schott, J. T. Deacon, A. Peugeot, W. K. Myers, H. Sirringhaus, R. H. Friend, J. R. Nitschke, Adv. Mater. 2021, 33, 2100403.

[5] M. Yamashina, Y. Tanaka, R. Lavendomme, T. K. Ronson, M. Pittelkow, J. R. Nitschke, Nature 2019, 574, 511-515.

[6] J. A. Davies, T. K. Ronson, J. R. Nitschke, Chem 2022, 8, 1099-1106.

[7] Z. F. Lu, T. K. Ronson, A. W. Heard, S. Feldmann, N. Vanthuyne, A. Martinez, J. R. Nitschke, Nature Chem. 2023, 15, 405.

[8] K. Wu, T. K. Ronson, P. Su, Z. Chen, L. Goh, A. W. Heard, X. Li, F. Klautzsch, C. A. Schalley, M. Vinković, J. R. Nitschke, Nature Synthesis 2023, in press.

[9] G. Li, T. K. Ronson, R. Lavendomme, Z. Huang, C. Fuertes-Espinosa, D. Zhang, J. R. Nitschke, Chem 2023, in press.

Bio: Jonathan Nitschke received his bachelor’s degree from Williams College (USA) in 1995 and his doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley in 2001 under the supervision of T. Don Tilley. He then undertook postdoctoral studies with Jean-Marie Lehn in Strasbourg under the auspices of a US NSF fellowship, and in 2003 he started his independent research career as a Maître-assistant (fixed-term independent PI) in the Organic Chemistry Department of the University of Geneva. In 2007 he was appointed University Lecturer at Cambridge, where he now holds a Professorship. His research program investigates the self-assembly of complex, functional structures from simple molecular precursors and metal ions.