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The complex hydrolysis process and strong uncertainty of self-assembly rules have led to the precise synthesis of lanthanide clusters still being in the "blind-box" stage and simplifying the self-assembly process and developing reliable regulation strategies have attracted widespread attention. Herein, different anions are used to induce the construction of a series of dysprosium clusters with different shapes and connections. When the selected anion is NO3−, it blocks the coordination of metal sites around the cluster through the terminal group coordination mode, thereby controlling the growth of the cluster. When NO3− was changed to OAc−, OAc− adopted a bridging mode to induce modular units to build dysprosium clusters through an annular growth mechanism. Specifically, we selected 2-amino-6-methoxybenzoic acid, 2-hydroxybenzaldehyde, and Dy(NO3)3·6H2O to react under solvothermal conditions to obtain a pentanuclear dysprosium cluster (1). The five Dy(III) ions in 1 are distributed in upper and lower planes and are formed by the tight connection of nitrogen and oxygen atoms, and μ3-OH− bridges on the ligand. Next, octa-nuclear dysprosium cluster (2) were obtained by only regulating ligand substituents. The eight Dy(III) ions in 2 are tightly connected through ligand oxygen atoms, μ2-OH−, and μ3-OH− bridges, forming an elliptical {Dy/O} cluster core. Furthermore, only by changing NO3− to OAc−, a wheel-shaped tetradeca-nuclear dysprosium cluster (3) was obtained. Cluster 3 is composed of OAc− bridged multiple template Dy3L3 units and pulling of these template units connected by an annular growth mechanism forms a wheel-shaped cluster. The angle of the coordination site on NO3− is ∠ONO = 115°, which leads to the further extension of the metal sites on the periphery of clusters 1 and 2 through the terminal group coordination mode, thereby regulating the structural connection of the clusters. However, the angle of the coordination site on OAc− is ∠OCO = 128°, and a slightly increased angle leads to the formation of a ring-shaped cluster 3 by connecting the template units through bridging. This is a rare example of the controllable construction of lanthanide clusters with different shapes induced by the regulation of different anions, which provides a new method for the precise construction of lanthanide clusters with special shapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coordination-driven self-assembly processes often produce remarkable structures. In particular, self-assembly processes mediated by chiral template units have provided research ideas for analyzing the formation of chiral macromolecules in living organisms. In this study, by regulating the proportion of reaction raw materials in the "one-pot" synthesis of lanthanide complexes, we constructed chiral template units with different coordination orientations. As a result, lanthanide chiral chains connected to different structures were obtained through the self-assembly process of coordination recognition. In particular, driven by coordination, chiral template units with codirectional coordination points (called cis configuration) coordinate solely with cis template units during the self-assembly process to obtain a one-dimensional (1D) chain R-1 / S-1 with an "S"-shaped distribution. Moreover, chiral template units with reversed coordination sites (called trans configuration) and twisted chiral template units are connected solely to templates with the same configuration to form a 1D chain R-2 / S-2 with an axial helix. A circular dichroism spectrum shows that R-1 / S-1 and R-2 / S-2 are two pairs of enantiomers. The controllable construction of these two differential 1D chains is of great significance for studying coordination recognition at the molecular level. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to construct a 1D lanthanide chain through the self-assembly process of coordination recognition. The assembly process of nucleotides to form a hierarchical structure is simulated. This work provides a vivid example of the controllable synthesis of lanthanide complexes with precise structures and offers a new perspective on the formation process of chiral macromolecules that simulates natural processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although progress has been made in the design and synthesis of chiral lanthanide clusters with pleasing structural connections and special shapes, assembly rules that guide their directional construction are still lacking. We reacted R/S -mandelic acid hydrazide, 2,3-dihydroxybenzaldehyde and DyCl3·6H2O under solvothermal conditions to obtain two octanuclear chirality clusters R-1 and S-1 , which are the enantiomers of each other. R/S -mandelic acid hydrazide and 2,3-dihydroxybenzaldehyde underwent an in situ reaction under "one-pot" conditions to generate a monohydrazone-type organic ligand R/S -mandelic acid hydrazide-2,3-dihydroxybenzaldehyde hydrazone (R/S -H2L). Four R/S -H2L ligands captured eight metal-centered Dy(III) ions and presented an annular arrangement, which assembled to form a pinwheel-shaped chiral cluster R/S-1. The benzene rings at the four vertices of R/S-1 can rotate freely as rotors. This is the first discovery of an annular growth mechanism during the self-assembly of lanthanide clusters. By changing the metal salt to Dy(NO3)3·6H2O, two twist-shaped hexanuclear clusters R-2 and S-2 , which are the enantiomers of each other were obtained. Four R/S -H2L and two R/S -H3L ligands captured six metal-centered Dy(III) ions, respectively, and were assembled through a linear growth mechanism to form the twist-shaped chiral clusters R/S-2. This is the first time that a linear growth mechanism has been proposed for the directional construction of lanthanide clusters with specific shapes. Circular dichroism results showed that R/S-1 and R/S-2 were both chiral clusters and enantiomers of each other. Magnetic studies showed that both R/S-1 and R/S-2 exhibit obvious single-molecule magnet (SMM) behaviors under zero-field conditions. This work is the first to propose an annular/linear growth mechanism for the design and synthesis of lanthanide clusters and allows the directional construction of chiral lanthanide clusters with special shapes and structural connections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Specially shaped high-nuclear lanthanide cluster assembly has attracted widespread attention, but the study of their self-assembly mechanism is still stagnant. Herein, we used a polydentate chelating bis-acylhydrazone ligand to construct a rare 16-nuclear dysprosium cluster 1 with a brucite-like structure. The capture agents, pivalic acid and di(pyridin-2-yl)methanone, were added into the reaction system, and the hexanuclear dysprosium cluster 2 and heptanuclear dysprosium cluster 3 were obtained, respectively. Clusters 2 and 3 support the out-to-in growth mechanism as key evidence. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to use truncation reaction to decipher the formation mechanism of high-nuclear lanthanide clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building a hydrogen-bonded organic framework (HOF) that is resistant to strong acids and bases has always been challenging. Especially for lanthanide HOFs with large volume, irregular shape, and weak noncovalent force, their high stability is extremely difficult to achieve. Herein, we have used the reaction of 2-hydroxybenzaldehyde, 5-chloro-2-hydroxybenzaldehyde, 5-bromo-2-hydroxybenzaldehyde, 2-hydroxy-5-methylbenzaldehyde, and 5-fluoro-2-hydroxybenzaldehyde with 2,2-dimethylpropane-1,3-diamine and DyCl3·6H2O under room temperature conditions to obtain five Dy–HOFs [Dy(L1−R)(L2−R)]n (R = H (1), Cl (2), Br (3), CH3 (4), F (5)). Notably, the above Dy–HOFs are immersed in solutions with different pH values (1–13) for 20 days and maintain a high degree of stability. Moreover, the solid-state fluorescence of Dy–HOF samples immersed under acidic conditions has a "turn-on" response, and the solid-state fluorescence increases with increased acidity. This study is the first to investigate a series of highly stable metal–HOFs that is constructed by adjusting the substituents on the ligand, and the acid-responsive "turn-on" solid-state fluorescence of metal HOFs is reported for the first time. The anti-counterfeiting test results show that the ink made from the samples before and after the acid treatment can achieve dual anti-counterfeiting properties under sunlight and ultraviolet light. In addition, the ion sensing experiment also shows that the sample solution soaked in acid can specifically recognize Pb(II) ions. Magnetic research shows that all Dy–HOFs show obvious frequency-dependent behavior under zero field conditions, while 1, 4 and 5 show obvious single-molecule magnet behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although great progress has been made in the design, synthesis, and performance expansion of porous materials, new porous materials with stable structures still need to be explored further. In recent years, porous molecular crystals formed by intermolecular interactions have attracted wide attention from chemists, especially metal hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (M-HOFs) formed by connecting metal complexes through hydrogen bonds. Metal complexes with specific properties (e.g., magnetism, luminescence, sensing, and catalysis) can expand and develop the application of M-HOFs further. However, the huge volume, irregular shape, complex coordination modes, and interference of coordination bonds pose certain challenges in the synthesis and performance expansion of M-HOFs. In this frontier, we summarize the latest progress in the use of 3d, 4d, and 4f metal complexes for the synthesis of M-HOFs, and briefly introduce the performance expansion of these M-HOFs, which is expected to help expand new porous materials with stable structures and specific functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We obtained a binuclear Gd(III) complex [Gd2(L1)2(NO3)4] (1, HL1 = (E)-2-(2-(pyridin-2-ylmethyleneamino)ethoxy)ethanol) by reacting N2O2-tetradentate chelating ligand HL1 with Gd(NO3)3·6H2O at solvothermal temperature of 100 °C. Time-dependent high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HRESI-MS) followed the formation of 1 and revealed it's the assembly mechanism: HL1 → Gd(L1) → Gd2(L1)2. When we used the NO2-tridentate chelating ligand HL2 (HL2 = 2-(2-aminoethoxy)ethanol) under the same reaction conditions, we obtained an "hourglass-like" nonanuclear Gd(III) cluster [Gd9(L2)8(μ3-OH)8(μ4-O)2(NO3)8]·2CH3OH·H2O (2). Their assembly mechanism was proposed: HL2 → Gd(L2) → Gd2(L2)2 → Gd3(L2)3 → Gd4(L2)4 → Gd5(L2)4 → Gd9(L2)8. Most notably, when we used the NO-bidentate chelate ligand HL3 (HL3 = picolinic acid), we obtained a dodecanuclear Gd(III) cluster [Gd12(L3)8(OH)16(NO3)8(OH)4(H2O)4]·22CH3OH·25CH3CN (3) under the same reaction conditions. We found that the formation process of cluster 3 involved two different and mutually interfering self-assembly processes, namely, multitemplate-induced assembly (HL3 → Gd(L3) → Gd2(L3)2 → Gd12(L3)8) and stepwise assembly (HL3 → Gd(L3) → Gd2(L3)2 → Gd3(L3)2 → Gd4(L3)2 → Gd5(L3)2 → Gd6(L3)2 → Gd12(L3)8). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most effective way to understand reaction mechanisms and kinetics is to identify the reaction intermediates and determine the possible reaction patterns. The influencing factors that must be considered in the self-assembly of clusters are the type of ligand, metal ion, coordination anion and the pH of the solution. However, changes in ligand substituents resulting in different self-assembly processes to obtain different types of structures are still very rare, especially with –H and –CH3 substituents, which do not exert significant steric hindrance effects. In this study, planar mononuclear Ni(L1)2 (L1 = 2-ethoxy-6-(iminomethyl)phenol) was dissolved in methanol and combined with Dy(NO3)3·6H2O for 48 h at room temperature to obtain a butterfly-like Ni2Dy2 cluster ([Dy2Ni2(L1)4(CH3O)2(NO3)4], 1). The Dy(III) ions in cluster 1 are in an O8N coordination environment, and the Ni(II) ions are in an O5N coordination environment. High-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HRESI-MS) was used to track species changes during the formation of cluster 1. Six key intermediate fragments were screened, and the self-assembly mechanism was proposed as Ni(L1)2 → HL1 + NiL1 → DyL1/Ni(L1)2′ → DyNi(L1)2 → Dy2Ni2(L1)4. Through this assembly mechanism, we found that Ni(L1)2 was first cleaved into HL1 + NiL1 and then further assembled to obtain 1. Another butterfly-like tetranuclear heterometallic cluster ([Dy2Ni2(L2)4(CH3O)2(NO3)4], 2) was obtained using planar mononuclear Ni(L2)2 (L2 = (E)-2-ethoxy-6-((methylimino)methyl)phenol) with –CH3 substitution on the nitrogen atom under the same reaction conditions. The structural analysis of cluster 2 showed that the Dy(III) ions are in an O9 coordination environment, and the Ni(II) ions are in an O4N2 coordination environment. HRESI-MS was used to trace species changes during the formation of 2, and the assembly mechanism was proposed as Ni(L2)2 → DyNi(L2)2 → Dy2Ni(L2)2 → Dy2Ni2(L2)4. Analysis of the assembly mechanism of 2 showed that Ni(L2)2 was twisted during the reaction, and its coordination point was exposed to capture the Dy(III) ions. Finally, Dy(NO3)3·6H2O was replaced with NaN3 to obtain a [Ni2Na2(L2)4(N3)4] cluster (3) under the same reaction conditions and verify the above-mentioned torsion step. HRESI-MS was also used to trace the assembly process, and the assembly mechanism was proposed as Ni(L2)2 → NiNa(L2)2 → NiNa2(L2)2 → Ni2Na2(L2)4. Herein, the effect of interference from substitution and the regulation self-assembly process were discovered in the formation of 3d–4f heterometallic clusters, and different types of coordination clusters were obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The formation of high-nuclearity clusters of lanthanide usually involves many complicated self-assembly processes. Thus, tracking the formation process is extremely difficult and research on the assembly mechanism is very rare. In this study, a Dy-exclusive nanocluster containing vertex-sharing [Dy4(μ3-OH)4] cubanes, denoted as [Dy12(L)8(OH)16(CH3O)8(H2O)8]·(CH3O)4 (Dy12, L = quinoline-2-carboxylate), was designed and synthesized from L and DyCl3·6H2O. Eight quinoline-2-carboxylate ligands were encapsulated on the periphery of the Dy12 cluster, which served to stabilize the core. The high stability of the Dy12 cluster core was further confirmed by high-resolution electrospray-ionization mass spectrometry (HRESI-MS). With increased ion-source energy, only CH3O− and OH− bridging ligands were replaced inside the Dy12 cluster. Notably, eight intermediate fragments were successfully observed from the Dy12 cluster formation by time-dependent HRESI-MS. First, ligand L captured Dy3+ to give Dy1, which further formed Dy2 through μ2-O bridging. The Dy12 cluster was constructed in one step with four Dy2 and four Dy3+ as templates: L → Dy1→ Dy2→ Dy12. Moreover, a series of Dy3–Dy6 fragment peaks with relatively weak intensities were observed, and an alternative stepwise-assembly route was proposed: L → Dy1→ Dy2→ Dy3→ Dy4→ Dy5→ Dy6→ Dy12. On comparing the two different assembly methods, the multitemplate guided assembly formed Dy12 was found to be dominant. To the best of our knowledge, this study was the first to propose the involvement of two self-assembly mechanisms in the construction of lanthanide clusters, as further confirmed by HRESI-MS. Magnetic studies further showed that Dy12 clusters exhibited field-induced single-molecule magnet behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complex hydrolysis process and strong uncertainty of self-assembly rules have led to the precise synthesis of lanthanide clusters still being in the "blind-box" stage and simplifying the self-assembly process and developing reliable regulation strategies have attracted widespread attention. Herein, different anions are used to induce the construction of a series of dysprosium clusters with different shapes and connections. When the selected anion is NO 3 - , it blocks the coordination of metal sites around the cluster through the terminal group coordination mode, thereby controlling the growth of the cluster. When NO 3 - was changed to OAc - , OAc - adopted a bridging mode to induce modular units to build dysprosium clusters through an annular growth mechanism. Specifically, we selected 2-amino-6-methoxybenzoic acid, 2-hydroxybenzaldehyde, and Dy(NO 3 ) 3 ·6H 2 O to react under solvothermal conditions to obtain a pentanuclear dysprosium cluster (1). The five Dy(III) ions in 1 are distributed in upper and lower planes and are formed by the tight connection of nitrogen and oxygen atoms, and μ 3 -OH - bridges on the ligand. Next, octa-nuclear dysprosium cluster (2) were obtained by only regulating ligand substituents. The eight Dy(III) ions in 2 are tightly connected through ligand oxygen atoms, μ 2 -OH - , and μ 3 -OH - bridges, forming an elliptical {Dy/O} cluster core. Furthermore, only by changing NO 3 - to OAc - , a wheel-shaped tetradeca-nuclear dysprosium cluster (3) was obtained. Cluster 3 is composed of OAc - bridged multiple template Dy 3 L 3 units and pulling of these template units connected by an annular growth mechanism forms a wheel-shaped cluster. The angle of the coordination site on NO 3 - is ∠ONO = 115°, which leads to the further extension of the metal sites on the periphery of clusters 1 and 2 through the terminal group coordination mode, thereby regulating the structural connection of the clusters. However, the angle of the coordination site on OAc - is ∠OCO = 128°, and a slightly increased angle leads to the formation of a ring-shaped cluster 3 by connecting the template units through bridging. This is a rare example of the controllable construction of lanthanide clusters with different shapes induced by the regulation of different anions, which provides a new method for the precise construction of lanthanide clusters with special shapes.

Coordination-driven self-assembly processes often produce remarkable structures. In particular, self-assembly processes mediated by chiral template units have provided research ideas for analyzing the formation of chiral macromolecules in living organisms. In this study, by regulating the proportion of reaction raw materials in the "one-pot" synthesis of lanthanide complexes, we constructed chiral template units with different coordination orientations. As a result, lanthanide chiral chains connected to different structures were obtained through the self-assembly process of coordination recognition. In particular, driven by coordination, chiral template units with codirectional coordination points (called cis configuration) coordinate solely with cis template units during the self-assembly process to obtain a one-dimensional (1D) chain R-1/S-1 with an "S"-shaped distribution. Moreover, chiral template units with reversed coordination sites (called trans configuration) and twisted chiral template units are connected solely to templates with the same configuration to form a 1D chain R-2/S-2 with an axial helix. A circular dichroism spectrum shows that R-1/S-1 and R-2/S-2 are two pairs of enantiomers. The controllable construction of these two differential 1D chains is of great significance for studying coordination recognition at the molecular level. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to construct a 1D lanthanide chain through the self-assembly process of coordination recognition. The assembly process of nucleotides to form a hierarchical structure is simulated. This work provides a vivid example of the controllable synthesis of lanthanide complexes with precise structures and offers a new perspective on the formation process of chiral macromolecules that simulates natural processes.

Although progress has been made in the design and synthesis of chiral lanthanide clusters with pleasing structural connections and special shapes, assembly rules that guide their directional construction are still lacking. We reacted R/S-mandelic acid hydrazide, 2,3-dihydroxybenzaldehyde and DyCl 3 ·6H 2 O under solvothermal conditions to obtain two octanuclear chirality clusters R-1 and S-1, which are the enantiomers of each other. R/S-mandelic acid hydrazide and 2,3-dihydroxybenzaldehyde underwent an in situ reaction under "one-pot" conditions to generate a monohydrazone-type organic ligand R/S-mandelic acid hydrazide-2,3-dihydroxybenzaldehyde hydrazone (R/S-H 2 L). Four R/S-H 2 L ligands captured eight metal-centered Dy(III) ions and presented an annular arrangement, which assembled to form a pinwheel-shaped chiral cluster R/S-1. The benzene rings at the four vertices of R/S-1 can rotate freely as rotors. This is the first discovery of an annular growth mechanism during the self-assembly of lanthanide clusters. By changing the metal salt to Dy(NO 3 ) 3 ·6H 2 O, two twist-shaped hexanuclear clusters R-2 and S-2, which are the enantiomers of each other were obtained. Four R/S-H 2 L and two R/S-H 3 L ligands captured six metal-centered Dy(III) ions, respectively, and were assembled through a linear growth mechanism to form the twist-shaped chiral clusters R/S-2. This is the first time that a linear growth mechanism has been proposed for the directional construction of lanthanide clusters with specific shapes. Circular dichroism results showed that R/S-1 and R/S-2 were both chiral clusters and enantiomers of each other. Magnetic studies showed that both R/S-1 and R/S-2 exhibit obvious single-molecule magnet (SMM) behaviors under zero-field conditions. This work is the first to propose an annular/linear growth mechanism for the design and synthesis of lanthanide clusters and allows the directional construction of chiral lanthanide clusters with special shapes and structural connections.

Specially shaped high-nuclear lanthanide cluster assembly has attracted widespread attention, but the study of their self-assembly mechanism is still stagnant. Herein, we used a polydentate chelating bis-acylhydrazone ligand to construct a rare 16-nuclear dysprosium cluster 1 with a brucite-like structure. The capture agents, pivalic acid and di(pyridin-2-yl)methanone, were added into the reaction system, and the hexanuclear dysprosium cluster 2 and heptanuclear dysprosium cluster 3 were obtained, respectively. Clusters 2 and 3 support the out-to-in growth mechanism as key evidence. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to use truncation reaction to decipher the formation mechanism of high-nuclear lanthanide clusters.

The most effective way to understand reaction mechanisms and kinetics is to identify the reaction intermediates and determine the possible reaction patterns. The influencing factors that must be considered in the self-assembly of clusters are the type of ligand, metal ion, coordination anion and the pH of the solution. However, changes in ligand substituents resulting in different self-assembly processes to obtain different types of structures are still very rare, especially with -H and -CH 3 substituents, which do not exert significant steric hindrance effects. In this study, planar mononuclear Ni(L 1 ) 2 (L 1 = 2-ethoxy-6-(iminomethyl)phenol) was dissolved in methanol and combined with Dy(NO 3 ) 3 ·6H 2 O for 48 h at room temperature to obtain a butterfly-like Ni 2 Dy 2 cluster ([Dy 2 Ni 2 (L 1 ) 4 (CH 3 O) 2 (NO 3 ) 4 ], 1). The Dy(iii) ions in cluster 1 are in an O 8 N coordination environment, and the Ni(ii) ions are in an O 5 N coordination environment. High-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HRESI-MS) was used to track species changes during the formation of cluster 1. Six key intermediate fragments were screened, and the self-assembly mechanism was proposed as Ni(L 1 ) 2 → HL 1 + NiL 1 → DyL 1 /Ni(L 1 ) 2 '→ DyNi(L 1 ) 2 → Dy 2 Ni 2 (L 1 ) 4 . Through this assembly mechanism, we found that Ni(L 1 ) 2 was first cleaved into HL 1 + NiL 1 and then further assembled to obtain 1. Another butterfly-like tetranuclear heterometallic cluster ([Dy 2 Ni 2 (L 2 ) 4 (CH 3 O) 2 (NO 3 ) 4 ], 2) was obtained using planar mononuclear Ni(L 2 ) 2 (L 2 = (E)-2-ethoxy-6-((methylimino)methyl)phenol) with -CH 3 substitution on the nitrogen atom under the same reaction conditions. The structural analysis of cluster 2 showed that the Dy(iii) ions are in an O 9 coordination environment, and the Ni(ii) ions are in an O 4 N 2 coordination environment. HRESI-MS was used to trace species changes during the formation of 2, and the assembly mechanism was proposed as Ni(L 2 ) 2 → DyNi(L 2 ) 2 → Dy 2 Ni(L 2 ) 2 → Dy 2 Ni 2 (L 2 ) 4 . Analysis of the assembly mechanism of 2 showed that Ni(L 2 ) 2 was twisted during the reaction, and its coordination point was exposed to capture the Dy(iii) ions. Finally, Dy(NO 3 ) 3 ·6H 2 O was replaced with NaN 3 to obtain a [Ni 2 Na 2 (L 2 ) 4 (N 3 ) 4 ] cluster (3) under the same reaction conditions and verify the above-mentioned torsion step. HRESI-MS was also used to trace the assembly process, and the assembly mechanism was proposed as Ni(L 2 ) 2 → NiNa(L 2 ) 2 → NiNa 2 (L 2 ) 2 → Ni 2 Na 2 (L 2 ) 4 . Herein, the effect of interference from substitution and the regulation self-assembly process were discovered in the formation of 3d-4f heterometallic clusters, and different types of coordination clusters were obtained.

The formation of high-nuclearity clusters of lanthanide usually involves many complicated self-assembly processes. Thus, tracking the formation process is extremely difficult and research on the assembly mechanism is very rare. In this study, a Dy-exclusive nanocluster containing vertex-sharing [Dy 4 (μ 3 -OH) 4 ] cubanes, denoted as [Dy 12 (L) 8 (OH) 16 (CH 3 O) 8 (H 2 O) 8 ]·(CH 3 O) 4 (Dy 12 , L = quinoline-2-carboxylate), was designed and synthesized from L and DyCl 3 ·6H 2 O. Eight quinoline-2-carboxylate ligands were encapsulated on the periphery of the Dy 12 cluster, which served to stabilize the core. The high stability of the Dy 12 cluster core was further confirmed by high-resolution electrospray-ionization mass spectrometry (HRESI-MS). With increased ion-source energy, only CH 3 O - and OH - bridging ligands were replaced inside the Dy 12 cluster. Notably, eight intermediate fragments were successfully observed from the Dy 12 cluster formation by time-dependent HRESI-MS. First, ligand L captured Dy 3+ to give Dy 1 , which further formed Dy 2 through μ 2 -O bridging. The Dy 12 cluster was constructed in one step with four Dy 2 and four Dy 3+ as templates: L → Dy 1 → Dy 2 → Dy 12 . Moreover, a series of Dy 3 -Dy 6 fragment peaks with relatively weak intensities were observed, and an alternative stepwise-assembly route was proposed: L → Dy 1 → Dy 2 → Dy 3 → Dy 4 → Dy 5 → Dy 6 → Dy 12 . On comparing the two different assembly methods, the multitemplate guided assembly formed Dy 12 was found to be dominant. To the best of our knowledge, this study was the first to propose the involvement of two self-assembly mechanisms in the construction of lanthanide clusters, as further confirmed by HRESI-MS. Magnetic studies further showed that Dy 12 clusters exhibited field-induced single-molecule magnet behavior.