Rational design of a nanometre-sized covalent octahedron

The thermodynamically controlled reaction of six tetraformyl-cavitands with twelve rigid, linear diamines yields quantitatively polyimine octahedrons with diameters of up to 5 nm. The cavitands are optimized to match the ideal geometry of a 60 degrees tetratopic vertex unit and are connected along the octahedron edges with the diamines through 24 newly formed imine bonds.