Controllable Assembly, Structures, and Properties of Lanthanide-Transition Metal-Amino Acid Clusters

Amino acids are the basic building blocks in the chemistry of life. This chapter describes the controllable assembly, structures and properties of lathanide(Ill)-transition metal-amino acid clusters developed recently by our group. The effects on the assembly of several factors of influence, such as presence of a secondary ligand, lanthanides, crystallization conditions, the ratio of metal ions to amino acids, and transition metal ions have been expounded. The dynamic balance of metalloligands and the substitution of weak coordination bonds account for the occurrence of diverse structures in this series of compounds.