Octakis(3-azidopropyl)octasilsesquioxane: A Versatile Nanobuilding Block for the Efficient Preparation of Highly Functionalized Cube-Octameric Polyhedral Oligosilsesquioxane Frameworks Through Click Assembly

A one-step synthesis of octakis(3-azidopropyl)octasilsesquioxane from commercially available octakis(3-aminopropyl)octasilsesquioxime has been developed through a highly efficient diazo-transfer reaction under very mild conditions Nonaflyl azide is shown to be a safer, cheaper. and more efficient reagent for this transformation than the better known and generally used diazo-transfer reagent triflyl azide. Octakis(3-azidopropypoyl)octasilses-quioxane is an excellent nanobuildmg block that can be readily octafunctionalized with a range of terminal alkynes by copper(I)-catalyzed 1,3-dipolar azide-alkyne cycloaddition to provide new functional nanocages, maintaining a perfect 3D cubic symmetry The mildness, simplicity, and efficiency of this approach have been demonstrated in the preparation of a glyco-polyhedral oligosilsesquioxane (POSS) conjugate and a BODIPY POSS cluster (BODIPY = boron dipyrromethene)