Formation of Novel Structures of Metal-Organic Cages

Metal-organic coordination cages have been researched extensively over the past few decades, with advances including the formation of more complicated geometries and selective guest binding. However, the underlying principles dictating the formation of more complex structures, particularly concerning the selective formation of one structure out of a range of other possibilities, are still not fully understood. This project will focus on understanding the fundamental rules for the formation of different architectures. One strand of the project will focus on designing Cu(I) coordination cages, which preliminary results have suggested form more complicated and lower-symmetry structures than initially anticipated. The second strand of the project, to run simultaneously, will focus on the formation of low-symmetry, heteroleptic prismatic cages and attempting to decipher the rules governing the formation of one structure over another.