Supramolecular chemistry articles from across Nature Portfolio

Quasicrystals are intriguing structures that exhibit long-range positional correlations but no periodicity in real space. Now, T-shaped amphiphilic molecules featuring rigid cores have been found to self-assemble into a columnar liquid quasicrystal with dodecagonal symmetry. The honeycomb structure observed arises from a strictly quasiperiodic tessellation of square, triangular and trapezoidal tiles, rather than from random tiling.

Soft robotics is a growing field, and requires versatile actuation methodology. Here, the authors report high-speed bending of anisole crystals due to natural vibration, induced and amplified by photothermal effect.

Stereogenic sp³-hybridized carbon centres are the principal building blocks of chiral organic molecules. Usually, these centres are configurationally fixed. Now, low-energy pericyclic rearrangements have been used to create rigid cage molecules with fluxional sp³-stereochemistry, influencing chiral information transfer. The sp³-carbon stereochemistry of the cages is inverted through strain-assisted Cope rearrangements.

While hydrogels find applications in wearable sensors and electronic skins, they are prone to fatigue fractures upon deformation cycling. Xiong et al. report the synthesis of conductive polymerizable rotaxane hydrogels, exhibiting large fatigue resistance, for 3D printable flexible sensors.

Eco-friendly, efficient, and selective gold recovery technologies are urgently desired to satisfy the increasing demand for gold. Here, the authors report one such technology based on the supramolecular polymerization of second-sphere coordinated adducts formed between β-cyclodextrin and tetrabromoaurate anions.

Amorphous coordination polymers and metal–organic frameworks can be directly synthesized under mild conditions using a broader range of metals and ligands than their crystalline and crystal-derived counterparts and therefore exhibit different physicochemical properties. This Review discusses the direct synthesis of amorphous coordination polymers, as well as their characterization, properties and applications.