Programmable synthesis of well-defined, glycosylated iron(ii) supramolecular assemblies with multivalent protein-binding capabilities.

Multivalency plays a key role in achieving strong, yet reversible interactions in nature, and provides critical chemical organization in biological recognition processes. Chemists have taken an interest in designing multivalent synthetic assemblies to both better understand the underlying principles governing these interactions, and to build chemical tools that either enhance or prevent such recognition events from occurring in biology. Rationally tailoring synthetic strategies to achieve the high level of chemical control and tunability required to mimic these interactions, however, is challenging.