The directional bonding approach is a powerful tool to rationally control both shape and stoichiometry of three-dimensional objects built from rigid building blocks under dynamic covalent conditions. Co-condensation of catechol-functionalized tribenzotriquinacene derivatives which have 90° angles between the reactive sites and diboronic acids with bite angles of 60°, 120°, and 180°, led to the efficient formation of, respectively, bipyramidal, tetrahedral, or cubic covalent organic cage compounds in a predictable manner. Investigations on the self-sorting of ternary mixtures containing two competitive boronic acids revealed either narcissistic or social self-sorting depending on the stability of the segregated cages relative to feasible three-component assemblies.
Keywords: boronate esters; cages compounds; dynamic covalent chemistry; self-sorting; tribenzotriquinacenes.
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