Self-assembly What Does it Mean

Supramolecular chemistry - broadly the chemistry of multicomponent molecular assemblies in which the component structural units are typically held together by a variety of weaker (non-covalent) interactions - has developed rapidly over recent years. Typically is used since, in a considerable number of systems, metal-donor bonds - often essentially covalent in nature - have also been employed to stitch together organic components into larger assemblies. Such metal-linked assemblies will be treated as part of the supramolecular realm in the present work (although not employed here, perhaps supermolecular is a better term for this category). 

With the development of supramolecular chemistry, there has been a concomitant shift in the mind-set of chemists working in the area. This has involved a change in focus from single molecules, often constructed step by step via the formation of direct covalent linkages, towards molecular assemblies, with their usual (see exception above) non-covalent weak intermolecular contacts. This change in focus is nicely encapsulated in Lehn s description of supramolecular chemistry as the designed chemistry of the intermolecular bond .  

As a consequence of the intense interest in the field, a very large number of synthetic supramolecular systems have now been synthesised, with many of the (non-polymeric) systems ranging in size from around a nanometre or so to tens of 

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