Coordination Polymer Design Approaches

Coordination Polymer Design Approaches 2.4.3.1 The Building-block Methodology... 

Supramolecular entities are prepared either by designed or self-assembly, or by the breakdown of larger species - the so-called bottom-up and top-down approaches respectively. Most supramolecular zinc compounds have been obtained by self-assembly methods, often operating in a rather hit-and-miss way. However, controlled cleavage of coordination polymers should prove a useful route to predesigned supramolecular assemblies. An example of this approach is provided by the... 

Figure 2.4.4 View of a porous cadmium coordination polymer, Cd(N03)2[2,4 -(l,4-phenylene)bispyridine] °° [50], Such materials are a particular target for coordination polymer chemists and require rational, designed, synthetic approaches.

In conclusion, with this synthetic approach a wide range of redox-active polymers can be obtained where factors such as the nature of the polymer backbone (e.g use of copolymers), the loading of the metal center, and the nature and coordination sphere of the metal center can be controlled systematically. This has been used to great effect in the design of electrochemically driven chemical and biochemical sensors. 

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