Molecular tectonics based on porphyrin, dipyrrins, and heterocyclic amines functionalized by nucleobases

Overview & Synopsis

Molecular tectonics is a field of supramolecular chemistry dealing with the formation of 1D, 2D and 3D molecular networks generated through the self-assembly processes between complementary building blocks (tectons). The latter offer complementary sites leading to recognition patterns via non-covalent and reversible interactions. The interactions widely used are hydrogen bonds and coordination interactions. During this thesis, the H-bonding sites used are the Nucleobases (Thymine, Adenine, Cytosine, Guanine) found in the DNA and RNA, which were introduced to different coordination sites, such as porphyrins, dipyrrins, pyridines and terpyridines. A library of 25 new tectons based on nucleobases were synthesized and characterized. Furthermore, the tectons were crystalized to study their self-assembly in the solid state. In the presence of external metal cations, the tectons lead to the formation of coordination and H-bonded networks of various topology via the self-assembly of nucleobases together with the formation of coordination bonds.