Surface-Confined Supramolecular Self-Assembly of Molecular Nanocranes for Chemically Lifting and Positioning C₆₀ above a Conducting Substrate

2D supramolecular self-assembly is a good way to form well-defined nanostructures on various substrates. One of the current challenges is to extend this approach to 3D functional building blocks. Here, we address this issue by providing a strategy for the controlled lifting and positioning of functional units above a graphitic substrate. This is the first time that multistory cyclophane-based 3D tectons incorporating C₆₀ units have been designed and synthesized. Molecular modelling provides a description of the 3D geometries and evidences the flexible character of the building blocks. Despite this later feature, the supramolecular self-assembly of Janus tectons on HOPG yields well-ordered adlayers incorporating C₆₀ arrays at well-defined mean distances from the surface. As our approach is not limited to C₆₀, the results reported here open-up possibilities for applications where the topological and electronic interactions between the substrate and the functional unit are of prime importance. On the up: New multistory Janus tectons bearing C₆₀ units are obtained from a multilayer metaparacyclophane scaffold (see picture). This is the first example of 3D tectons that are able to form by surface-confined self-assembly well-ordered adlayers incorporating C₆₀ arrays at controlled distances from the surface. This opens-up possiblities for applications where the topological and electronic interactions between the substrate and the C₆₀ are of prime mportance.