Who likes abstract art and Microbiology? Drawing

Nested concentric structures widely exist in nature and designed systems with circles, polygons, polyhedra, and spheres sharing the same center or axis. It still remains challenging to construct discrete nested architecture at (supra)molecular level. Herein, three generations (G2−G4) of giant nested supramolecules, or Kandinsky circles, have been designed and assembled with molecular weight 17,964, 27,713 and 38,352 Da, respectively. In the ligand preparation, consecutive condensation between precursors with primary amines and pyrylium salts is applied to modularize the synthesis. These discrete nested supramolecules are prone to assemble into tubular nanostructures through hierarchical self-assembly. Furthermore, nested supramolecules display high antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive pathogen methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and negligible toxicity to eukaryotic cells, while the corresponding ligands do not show potent antimicrobial activity. Is art infuencing science or vice versa? where do the images come from, the Nature or the Mind? Inspired by Kandinsky circles, we focused our attention on seeking of an efficient (supra)molecular expression of the nested structure based on coordination-driven self-assembly. Since early 1990s16, coordination-driven self-assembly has witnessed an explosion in constructing various 2D and 3D supramolecular architectures17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25 owing to the highly directional and predictable feature of coordination, as well as the structural information instilled in the building blocks.

Drawing:Watercolor on Paper

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:29.5 W x 21.7 H x 0.4 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.