Prof. De Mendoza and his research team have synthesised unique octahedral and icosahedral anionic UOFs (Uranyl Organic Frameworks) from calixarenes, carboxylates and uranyl at room temperature.

Unlike most metallocages reported to date, the metals in these nanoscopic assemblies are not located at the corners or the edges of the resulting polyhedra but on the faces instead, acting both as a gluing element for the assembly of the components and a functional key substructure.

UOF with an inscribed sphere of ca. 7238 Ams

This novel arrangement, published in Nature Communications, allows host-guests interactions inside the cage and encapsulation of polycationic or electron deficient molecules.

The size of the calixarenes defines and dictates the shape and the size of the resulting globular assemblies in an univocal fashion: