Elucidation of the key role of Pt···Pt interactions in the directional self-assembly of platinum(II) complexes

Autor: Xiaoyan Zheng, Michael Ho-Yeung Chan, Alan Kwun-Wa Chan, Siqin Cao, Maggie Ng, Fu Kit Sheong, Chu Li, Eshani Chrisana Goonetilleke, William Wai Yan Lam, Tai-Chu Lau, Xuhui Huang, Vivian Wing-Wah Yam
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 119
ISSN: 1091-6490
0027-8424
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2116543119
Popis: Here, we report the use of an amphiphilic Pt(II) complex, K[Pt{(O3SCH2CH2CH2)2bzimpy}Cl] (PtB), as a model to elucidate the key role of Pt···Pt interactions in directing self-assembly by combining temperature-dependent ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, stopped-flow kinetic experiments, quantum mechanics (QM) calculations, and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Interestingly, we found that the self-assembly mechanism of PtB in aqueous solution follows a nucleation-free isodesmic model, as revealed by the temperature-dependent UV-Vis experiments. In contrast, a cooperative growth is found for the self-assembly of PtB in acetone–water (7:1, vol/vol) solution, which is further verified by the stopped-flow experiments, which clearly indicates the existence of a nucleation phase in the acetone–water (7:1, vol/vol) solution. To reveal the underlying reasons and driving forces for these self-assembly processes, we performed QM calculations and show that the Pt···Pt interactions arising from the interaction between the pz and dz2 orbitals play a crucial role in determining the formation of ordered self-assembled structures. In subsequent oligomer MD simulations, we demonstrate that this directional Pt···Pt interaction can indeed facilitate the formation of linear structures packed in a helix-like fashion. Our results suggest that the self-assembly of PtB in acetone–water (7:1, vol/vol) solution is predominantly driven by the directional noncovalent Pt···Pt interaction, leading to the cooperative growth and the formation of fibrous nanostructures. On the contrary, the self-assembly in aqueous solution forms spherical nanostructures of PtB, which is primarily due to the predominant contribution from the less directional hydrophobic interactions over the directional Pt···Pt and π−π interactions that result in an isodesmic growth.
Databáze: OpenAIRE