Modular Chemistry

Modular Chemistry: the First Steps In recent years, there has been increasing interest among chemists, physicists, materials scientists, biologists, engineers, and others in the assembly of well defmed, relatively large functional structures from repetitive units that themselves are molecules of some complexity. Using the dictionary defmition of a module (a detachable section, compartment, or unit with a specific purpose or function, and in electronics, a compact assembly functioning as a component of a larger unit) [1], we feel that this newly emerging field of endeavor could be called "modular chemistry" [2]. The NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Modular Chemistry that was held on September 9 to 12, 1995, at Aspen Lodge near Estes Park, Colorado, was meant to bring together prominent contributors to modular chemistry as it is being born, and to examine the associated birth pangs. It was concluded that although real, these are not nearly as bad as giving birth to a hedgehog tail first, and that the ultimate rewards were likely to be far more satisfying in terms of new ideas and enabling methodology. The level of excitement about the possibilities that are opening up for modular chemists, and also the challenge involved, are perhaps best documented by noting that the planned discussion periods at the workshop were as long as the oral presentation periods, and yet, each discussion ran over the allocated time.

Springer Book Archives

Lectures and Discussions.- Towards Designer Solids. Tinkertoy-like Molecular Grids and Scaffolds.- Tetraethynylethenes: Versatile Carbon-Rich Building Blocks for Two-Dimensional Acetylenic Scaffolding.- Discussion of the Michl and Diederich Lectures.- Modular Assembly of Surface Heterostructures from Inorganic Clusters and Polyelectrolytes.- Photopatteming to Create New Structures on Surfaces.- Discussion of the Mallouk and Lectures.- Ag(I)?NC-R Coordination Networks.- The Control of DNA Structure. From Topological Modules to Geometrical Modules.- Discussion of the Moore and Seeman Lectures.- Wiring-Up Nanostructures.- Discussion of the Tolbert Lecture.- Supramolecular Architecture in Langmuir-Blodgett Films.- Crystal Engineering of Ionic Solids. Polymorphism, Crystallography, Inter-Ring Interactions and C-H Hydrogen Bonding.- Discussion of the Palacin and Seddon Lectures.- The Benzene Ring as Modulus: Extended Polybenzoid Disc Structures and Their Supramolecular Ordering.- Discussion of the Müllen Lecture.- Dendrimers: Nanoscopic Modules for the Construction of Higher Ordered Complexity.- Assembling Triarylmethyls into Mesoscopic-Size Polyradicals: How to Maintain Strong Interactions Between Multiple Sites in a Single Molecule?.- Discussion of the Tomalia And Rajca Lectures.- Self Assembly of Molecular Materials.- Towards Oligophenylene Cycles and Related Structures: A Repetitive Approach.- Discussion of the Stupp and Schlüter Lectures.- Graphene in 2 & 3 Dimensions.- Fullerene Footprints: Cycloadducts of Carbon Rings.- Discussion of the Ebbesen and Scuseria Lectures.- Bricks and Open-Shell Buildings in Molecular Magnetism.- Semiconductor Nanocrystals as Molecules and Building Blocks.- Discussion of the Kahn and Brus Lectures.- Hierarchical Inorganic Materials:Stealing Nature's Best Secrets. Modular Chemistry Over Three Length Scales.- Assembly of Oriented Nanometer Channels on Organic Layers.- Discussion of the Ozin and Bein Lectures.- Design and Synthesis of Macromolecular Systems Consisting of Cyclodextrins and Polymers.- Toward Modular Chemistry with the Dendritic Box as Module.- Discussion of the Harada and Meijer Lectures.- Molecular Self-Assembly of Hydrogen-Bonded Crystalline Networks.- From Molecules to Crystals.- Discussion of the Ward and Zaworotko Lectures.- Poster Presentations.- Bottom up Construction of Photochemical Molecular Devices by Modular Chemistry.- Construction of Solid/Solid Interface Models Using Modular Chemistry: The Si/SiO2 Interface.- Synthesis of New Molecular Systems.- Multiply Ethynylated ?-Complexes of Iron, Cobalt, and Manganese: Modules for the Construction of Rigid Organometallic Objects.- Diels-Alder Oligomers of Benzene.- Single Electron Tunneling in Molecular Nanostructures of Crystalline Gold Clusters Attached by Dithiols to Au [111]: Direct I(V) Measurements of Individual Surface Attached Gold Clusters by STM.- Molecular Optical Rails Based on Aib. Modular Chemistry with Unusually Reliable Peptide Helices.- Modular Design of Multi-Porphyrin Arrays for Studies in Photosynthesis and Molecular Photonics.- Polyimide Nanofoams from Phase Separated Triblock Copolymers.- Control of the Molecular In-Plane Orientation in Langmuir-Blodgett Films by Shearing.- Rods, Rings, Balls and Strings! Structural Motifs in Carborane Chemistry.- Organization of a Non-Amphiphilic Supermolecule in Mixed Monolayers.- A Modular Approach to Large Functional Structures.- Iterative Building Block Approaches to Discrete Polystannane Oligomers.- Fullerene Tinker Toys.- New Modules - New Families of InterlockedMolecules.- Zirconocene "Molecular Zippers": Implements for Construction of Well-Defined Polymers and Macrocycles.- Directing Nucleation and Growth of Molecular Crystals on Ordered Substrates: The Role of Epitaxial Interactions.- Nanocomposites, Molecular Composites and Their Fields of Application.- Designing Porosity in Coordination Solids.