Citation: He Zhao, Qiangqiang Dong, Fengxue Liu, Ning Wang, Lijun Wang, Mingzhao Chen, Zhilong Jiang, Die Liu, Jun Wang, Pingshan Wang, Yiming Li. Dovetail joint strategy for constructing giant multi-propeller supramolecular architectures[J]. Chinese Chemical Letters, ;2026, 37(2): 112051. doi: 10.1016/j.cclet.2025.112051 shu

Dovetail joint strategy for constructing giant multi-propeller supramolecular architectures

He Zhao ^{b, c} ,
Qiangqiang Dong ^b ,
Fengxue Liu ^b ,
Ning Wang ^a ,
Lijun Wang ^a ,
Mingzhao Chen ^a ,
Zhilong Jiang ^a ,
Die Liu ^b ,
Jun Wang ^{a, **,} ,
Pingshan Wang ^{a, b, *,} ,
Yiming Li ^{b, *,}

a.
Institute of Environmental Research at Greater Bay Area, Key Laboratory for Water Quality and Conservation of the Pearl River Delta, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou Key Laboratory for Clean Energy and Materials, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
b.
Department of Organic and Polymer Chemistry, Hunan Key Laboratory of Micro & Nano Materials Interface Science, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China
c.
School of Chemistry and Materials Engineering, Fuyang Normal University, Fuyang 236037, China

^**

wangjun@gzhu.edu.cn

chemwps@csu.edu.cn

chemyl@csu.edu.cn

Received Date: 8 August 2025
Revised Date: 26 October 2025
Accepted Date: 31 October 2025
Available Online: 31 October 2025

Figures(6)

The structural principles of traditional Chinese mortise-and-tenon joints have inspired breakthroughs in supramolecular engineering. Nevertheless, substantial challenges remain in constructing nanoscale supramolecular architectures with precisely controlled giant dimensions. Herein, we report a precision-guided synthetic strategy for constructing giant 2D and 3D supramolecular architectures with rhomboidal motifs, which was achieved through a dovetail joint strategy. Initial assembly of bis-mortise ligand L1 with dovetail tenon ligand L2 in the presence of Cd²⁺ ions yielded the fundamental bis-rhombic supramolecule R1. Subsequent structural elaboration of the dovetail tenon motif enabled the development of multitopic ligands L3 and L4, which facilitated the construction of expanded architectures of the giant bis-propeller supramolecule R2 and tris-propeller supramolecule R3. The synthesized supramolecules R1–R3 were fully characterized multidimensional NMR spectroscopy, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), traveling wave ion mobility mass spectrometry (TWIM-MS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). This work develops an innovative dovetail-joint assembly strategy for constructing rigid giant supramolecular architectures, establishing a new paradigm for precision engineering of complex 3D molecular systems.
- Terpyridine,
- Self-assembly,
- Mortise-and-tenon ligands,
- Dovetail joint strategy,
- Propeller supramolecules
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