The understanding of novel growth, as en route from discrete molecules to new solid-state materials, is presently a great challenge.  It is now possible to control the synthetic pathways to typical solid-state structures via nanostructured metal-oxide-based building blocks showing remarkable properties and perspectives for materials science. This ability, combined with their enormous linking versatility, is opening completely new and fascinating avenues for the synthesis of a variety of structures.  Important in the context is (1) the mentioned nanostructured building blocks can even be isolated (according to their stability) and (2) they have nanostructured cavities and well-defined properties, for example related to the magnetism, thus offering the possibility to construct materials with desired emergent properties using characteristic synthons – in accordance with the rule, the whole is more (due to cooperativity) than the sum of the parts.
 

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