Nanoassembly of a fractal polymer: a molecular "Sierpinski hexagonal gasket".

Mathematics and art converge in the fractal forms that also abound in nature. We used molecular self-assembly to create a synthetic, nanometer-scale, Sierpinski hexagonal gasket. This nondendritic, perfectly self-similar fractal macromolecule is composed of bis-terpyridine building blocks that are bound together by coordination to 36 Ru and 6 Fe ions to form a nearly planar array of increasingly larger hexagons around a hollow center.