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Cation tuning is a simple yet powerful strategy to modulate the reactivity of polymerization catalysts but the design rules to achieve maximum cation effects are not well understood. In the present work, it was demonstrated that inserting a methylene spacer between a nickel phenoxyimine complex and an M-polyethylene glycol (PEG) (where M = Li+, Na+, K+, or Cs+) unit led up to >70-fold increase in ethylene polymerization activity and 6-fold higher polymer molecular weight relative to that of the first-generation catalysts. It is hypothesized that these effects are due to the exclusive formation of 1:1 over 2:1 nick-el:alkali species and closer proximity of the M-PEG moiety to the nickel center. These results suggest that the successful creation of cation-responsive catalysts requires an understanding of the cation binding stoichiometry as well as the structural and electronic changes associated with its host-guest interactions. 

Designing materials to have three unique but predictable thermal expansion axes represents a major challenge. Inorganic materials and hybrid frameworks tend to crystallize in high-symmetry space groups, which necessarily limits this by affording isotropic behavior. On the other hand, molecular organic materials tend to crystallize in lower-symmetry space groups, offering significant opportunity to achieve anisotropic properties. The challenge arises in self-assembling the organic components into a predictable arrangement to afford predictable thermal expansion properties. Here, we demonstrate a design strategy for engineering organic solid-state materials that exhibit anisotropic thermomechanical behaviors. Presented are a series of multicomponent solids wherein one component features a BODPIY core strategically decorated with orthogonal hydrogen- and halogen-bond donor groups. A series of size-matched halogen-bond acceptors are used as the second component in each solid. By matching the molecular dimensions with the interaction strength, we obtained good control over the anisotropic thermal expansion of the molecular materials. Moreover, using shape-size mimicry and propensity for molecular motion, a rare ternary molecular system that is isostructural to the two binary solids was successfully achieved. The diiodo-functionalized BODIPY core in this study has been previously used in photocatalysts, and halogen bonding was hypothesized as a driving force; here, we provide corroborating solution and solid-state evidence of intermolecular halogen bonding in multicomponent solids featuring a 2,6-diiodo BODIPY.