Our work "Self-assembly of 10-nm-sized pentagonal dodecahedra through heteroleptic complexation coupled with orientational self-sorting" has been accepted in principle in Chem.  Congradulations to Li Lijie (李丽杰) 和 Zhang Xinyue (张馨月) for their outstanding contributions in this study!

Nature provides numerous examples of protein structures exhibiting icosahedral symmetry, which represents the highest degree of symmetry achievable for assemblies. The icosahedral architecture is not only fundamental to our understanding of biological systems but also serves as an inspiration for chemists aiming to design molecules with precision. However, the lack of a comprehensive understanding of the design principle and structural stability hinders the advancement of self-assembled molecules to the level of nature. Here, we present a combinatorial methodology that integrates dynamic heteroleptic complexation and orientational self-sorting for rational synthesis of molecular pentagonal dodecahedra. Structural analyses indicate that the target molecules possess a diameter of approximately 10 nm and a cavity volume of about 185,000 ų, representing one of the largest classes of well-defined hollow structures. The ability to design precise icosahedral structures with significantly larger internal spaces will facilitate the development of next-generation assemblies with diverse properties and specific applications.