CONSTRUCTING A MOLECULAR LEGO SET

This review article on substrate-directed synthesis, which has been written unconventionally in carefully designated and supporting parts by supervisor (JFS) and student (JPM), describes the events surrounding the controlled, stepwise construction of molecular waves, belts, and cages using repetitive, highly diastereoselective Diels-Alder reactions that occur under kinetic control. This kind of approach to the self-assembly of cyclacene and polyacene derivatives could have important implications for the development of nanochemistry in terms of new organic materials with prescribed functions as well as predetermined forms.