Parastichy, the spiral arrangement of plant organs, provides scientists with both an aesthetic challenge and a mathematical inspiration. Synthetic approaches to parastichy may allow for molecular-scale control over the arrangement processes and allow access to structures that are not routinely found in nature. Here we report the self-assembly of metallo-supramolecular truncated cuboctahedron (TCO) with twelve zinc-porphyrin (ZP) squares into double-helical (DH) nanowires on a graphite surface. The DH packing produces a non-natural parastichy pattern ascribed to the symmetry of the TCOs and the “patchy” ZP facets. Parastichy as demonstrated here is expected to advance our understanding of the design inputs needed to create complex, but precisely-controlled, hierarchical materials. It may also provide experimental support for studies of packing theory at the molecular level. Additional experiments have been performed to transfer the DH nanowires from graphite surface to other substrates for conductivity studies, which reveal a potential application of the nanowires as nanoelectronic devices.

Self-assembly of supramolecular truncated cuboctahedron into double helical nanowires with non-natural parastichy pattern

2019 Spring National Meeting

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