Metal-ion-selective chiral gelation of a mannose-grafted polyoxometalate cluster.

A series of supramolecular hydrogels are constructed through selective metal coordination to a mannose-grafted Anderson-type polyoxometalate under sonication. The crosslinked helical nanofibers in the hydrogels are characterized by the synthesized hybrid clusters adopting a half-overlapped head-to-tail packing while the chirality of the mannose group directs the preferential assembly.