Dynamic covalent and supramolecular direction of the synthesis and reassembly of copper(I) complexes.

The technique of subcomponent self-assembly has been applied to the preparation of a set of copper(I) complexes from diamines and aldehydes in aqueous solution. These complexes may be synthesized alongside one another in solution despite the chemical non-orthogonality of their respective starting materials; thermodynamic equilibration eliminates all mixed products. The reactivity of these complexes has been studied, revealing that in certain cases, the substitution of both ligands and ligand subcomponents could be independently carried out. In one particular case, a complex was shown to be inert to ligand substitution but readily underwent ligand subcomponent substitution, creating the possibility of a previously undocumented kind of cascade reaction: Once ligand subcomponent substitution had occurred, ligand exchange could then happen, allowing both reactions to be triggered by a single chemical event.