LAUSR

Molecular recognition in biological systems plays vital roles in the precise construction of biomacromolecules and the corresponding biological activities. Such recognition mainly relies on the highly specific binding of complementary molecular pairs with complementary sizes, shapes, and intermolecular forces. It still remains challenging to develop artificial complementary motif pairs for coordination-driven self-assembly. Herein, a series of shape-dependent complementary motif pairs, based on ditopic 2,2':6',2″-terpyridine (TPY) backbone, have been designed and synthesized. The fidelity degrees of self-assemblies from these motifs have been carefully evaluated by multi-dimensional mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and molecular modeling. In addition, two levels of self-recognition in both homoleptic and heteroleptic assembly are discovered in the assembled system. Through finely tuning the shape and size of the ligands, we have developed a complementary pair with error-free narcissistically self-sorting at two levels of self-recognition, and carefully investigated the intrinsic principle. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.