Sequence-controlled heterolayered lanthanide-complex dendritic architectures constructed from modular Ln-DOTA derivatives

Heterometallic lanthanide complexes, especially with specific metal arrays, are attracting special attention due to their unusual physical properties, which have found many applications in various fields, including high-performance molecular optical/magnetic devices and multifunctional probes for bioassays and bioimaging. However, due to the similar chemical properties of lanthanide ions, their construction is still challenging. Here, we report a new modular approach for the facile and efficient preparation of sequence-specific heterometallic lanthanide-complex-based dendritic architectures, which are termed as sequence-controlled heterolayered lanthanide-ligand structures (SHELLs). As a demonstration, a series of SHELLs containing desired lanthanide chelates with designed sequences are quickly synthesized by iterative covalent linking and extensively characterized with various instruments. The special optical and/or magnetic features of these dendritic structures implicate their promising potential as multifunctional agents. Our study underlines the bright prospective of SHELLs and the substantial significance of this modular strategy for the development of well-ordered giant heterometallic architectures.