Supramolecular catalysis: catalyst assembly, dynamic combinatorial catalysis and catalytically active nano-objects.

Supramolecular chemistry has grown in the last thirty years into a major field in science and has fueled numerous developments at the interfaces with biology and physics clearly demonstrating its potential at a multidisciplinary level. Simultaneously, organometallic chemistry and transition metal catalysis have matured in an incredible manner over the past decades, broadening the pallet of available tools for chemical conversions. The interface between supramolecular catalysis and transition metal catalysis has received surprisingly little attention. This research program consists of several new approaches to supramolecular transition metal catalysis, guided, but not limited, by the sophisticated examples provided by Nature. These approaches include the self-assembly of ligands for the construction of well-defined chelating ligands systems, which is also the basis for the creation of dynamic combinatorial catalyst libraries, and the preparation of transition metal containing molecular capsules. The specific environment inside the capsule isolating the transition metal catalyst from bulk effects will certainly result in special reactivies, which can be relevant for important reactions such as CH activation and the development of new catalytic processes. Towards supramolecular systems of higher complexity liposomes will be constructed that consist of different domains, each being responsible for certain catalytic conversions. The substrates will be directed to the proper catalysts using fluorinated activators that function as carriers. In addition, substrate accessibility to catalysts enclosed in liposomes will be controlled by organometallic nanotubes and sophisticated transporter molecules based on self-assembled capsules. These highly organized systems provide handles to control reactivity in complex mixtures and facilitate constructions for cascade processes. The important new strategies that will be developed in this program afford new tools for the search of new catalysts as well as new conversions induced by special reactivity of the metal center. This program describes unique supramolecular approaches that provide transition metal catalysts for the future.