Monitoring shape transformation from nanowires to nanocubes and size-controlled formation of coordination polymer particles

(Figure Presented) Fluorescent CPPs (coordination polymer particles) with controllable sizes ranging from the nano- to the microscale were synthesized in high yield by a solvothermal approach involving zinc ions and a carboxy-functionalized salen ligand. The initially formed nanowires aggregate to form cube-like clusters which undergo intrastructural fusion to produce uniform cubic particles, as shown by the depicted sequence of SEM images.