Scientists at Glasgow University have devised a molecular 'Lego toolkit' that can be used to assemble new and functional chemical compounds.
Using molecules as building blocks, the scientists have constructed a molecular scaffold based on tiny, nano-scale storage cubes.
This new 'designer route' is claimed to open the door to many new compounds that could, potentially, act as the ion sensors, storage devices and catalysts of the future.
Researchers within the Department of Chemistry created hollow cube-based frameworks from polyoxometalates (POMs) - complex compounds made from metal and oxygen atoms - that stick together like Lego bricks.
This means that a whole range of well-defined architectures can be developed.
The researchers chose a 'wheel-shaped' polyoxometalate molecule, containing a 1nm-wide hole, which acts as a 'window' to the molecule.
The cyclic compounds self assemble in water to form cubic single crystals.
The 'windows' of the ring-shaped building blocks lead to large internal pores; as a result, these new compounds can effectively act as storage boxes for ions and small molecules.
Well-defined chemical architectures are essential for many functional materials, according to the company; therefore, very large POM frameworks could be used as ion fuel cells, batteries, sensors, catalysts and other new nanotechnologies.
In the compound reported, manganese ions link the wheel-shaped molecules together into the molecular scaffold.
Positively charged potassium and lithium ions are also incorporated in the framework to balance the negative charge carried by the metal-oxide ions in the POM wheel.
The frameworks themselves can also be 'tuned' by changing the charge on the manganese ions.
The molecular sensing aspects of this new material are related to the potassium and lithium ions, which sit loosely in cavities in the framework.
These can be displaced by other positively charged ions, such as transition metals or small organic molecules, while at the same time leaving the framework intact.
These characteristics highlight some of the many potential uses and applications of POM frameworks, but their principle application is their use as catalysts - a molecule used to start or speed up a chemical reaction, making it more efficient, cost effective and environmentally friendly.
Prof Lee Cronin, Gardiner chair of chemistry, said: 'Although catalysts are of huge industrial significance, many of the catalysts used today in industry are still expensive as well as "dirty", creating environmentally harmful waste.
'Our research focuses on the design and synthesis of nano-scale functional molecular architectures, which can be used as industrial catalysts that are more energy efficient and environmentally friendly than current materials.
'Extended modular frameworks that incorporate inorganic building blocks such as these represent a new class of tuneable materials with "active sites" designed to respond to guest inclusion.
'With a huge variety of POM wheel molecules available, further studies are required to build this family of materials based on the general design process that has been established.
'Moreover, we aim to investigate the catalytic, sensing and guest exchange capabilities in more detail,' he added.
The Glasgow University research is reported in the latest edition of the 'Nature Chemistry' journal.
