Self-Assembly of Metallacages into Multidimensional Suprastructures with Tunable Emissions

Cubic metallacages were arranged into multidimensional (one-, two-, and three-dimensional) suprastructures via multistep assembly. Four new shape-controllable, hybrid metallacages with modified substituents and tunable electronic properties were prepared using dicarboxylate ligands with various substituents (sodium sulfonate, nitro, methoxyl, and amine), tetra-(4-pyridylphenyl) ethylene, and cis-(PEt3)(2)Pt(OTf)(2). The as-prepared metallacages were used as building blocks for further assembly. Diverse suprastructures with tunable emissions (lambda(max) from 451 to 519 nm) and various substituents (-SO3Na, -NO2, -OCH3, and -NH2) were prepared depending on the substituents and solvents used.