Boronic acids as building blocks for molecular nanostructures and polymeric materials.

Boronic acids are versatile building blocks for the construction of complex molecular architectures. Using reversible condensation reactions, it is possible to obtain macrocycles, cages, dendritic structures, and rotaxanes, as well as 1-, 2-, and 3-dimensional polymers in one-pot reactions from simple starting materials. This perspective highlights important recent developments in this area.