Abstract
Viruses form highly symmetrical coat structures, capsids, through the assembly of multiple lower-symmetry protein precursors. Recently, chemists have sought to emulate this process on a smaller scale, relying on the assembly of organic molecular struts and metal ions, rather than proteins. Sun et al. (p. [1144][1], published online 29 April; see the Perspective by [Stefankiewicz and Sanders][2] ) now demonstrate that a mixture of palladium ions and V-shaped bridging ligands can self-assemble into a hollow, nearly spherical polyhedron with 24 vertices and a central diameter of 4 nanometers. The assembly process was highly sensitive to the ligand angle; a subtle average decrease generated instead a smaller 12-vertex product. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1188605 [2]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1190821
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