Fullerene architectures made to order; biomimetic motifs — design and features

This article highlights the progress made in the design, synthesis and study of supramolecular fullerene architectures that are based upon biomimetic organization principles. In particular, an overview of hydrogen-bonding, π–π stacking, metal-mediated complexation and electrostatic motifs is given, which have been used to incorporate fullerenes into well-ordered arrays. Owing to the presence of fullerenes, as an integrative building block, the majority of the presented molecular assemblies exhibit unique and remarkable features. Issues relevant to electron-donor–electron-acceptor interactions are considered.