Towards functional metallo-supramolecular assemblies and polymers

One of the main goals in today’s chemistry and material science is the controlled fabrication of ordered architectures on nano- to mesoscopic length scales. Systems containing metal ions, which may potentially display new magnetic, photochemical or redox properties, are of special interest. A very promising approach comes from supramolecular chemistry utilizing the programmed self-assembly from mixtures of organic ligands and metal ions. In addition, such supramolecular building blocks can be used for the preparation of novel polymeric materials utilizing classical copolymerizations as well as controlled/living polymerization procedures.