Porous Capsules/Inorganic Cells*
They Interact Specifically with their Environment and with One Another while Chemistry Can Be Done at their Outer and Interior Surface as well as at the Interface Between the Subunits

Structurally well-defined porous spherical molybdenum-oxide based nanocapsules/artificial cells of the type {Pentagon}₁₂{Linker}₃₀ also called "Keplerates" allow unprecedented chemistry at their interior and outer surfaces as well as at the interfaces between the subunits. A related paper was entitled "Reactions inside a porous nanocapsule/artificial cell: encapsulates' structuring (like that of water) directed by internal surface deprotonations". The size of the capsules and their 20 pores can be varied; as the latter have crown ether function they can be opened stepwise and closed with guests/plugs like guanidinium cations (Fig. left). The capsules interact specifically with their environment, e.g. with cations (Fig. right) allowing for instance their nanoscale-separations as well as with one another in different phases - based on new types of assembly processes.


*Title of a section in: J. W. Steed, D. R. Turner, K. J. Wallace, Core Concepts in Supramolecular Chemistry and Nanochemistry, Wiley, Chichester, 2007, p. 289.