Ligand-directed molecular architectures: self-assembly of two-dimensional rectangular metallacycles and three-dimensional trigonal or tetragonal prisms.

Three angular ditopic ligands (1,3-bis(benzimidazol-1-ylmethyl)-4,6-dimethylbenzene L(1), 1,3-bis(benzimidazol-1-ylmethyl)-2,4,6-trimethylbenzene L(2), and 1,4-bis(benzimidazol-1-ylmethyl)-2,3,5,6-tetramethylbenzene L(3)) and one tripodal ligand 1,3,5-tris(benzimidazol-1-ylmethyl)-2,4,6-trimethylbenzene L(4) have been prepared. Reaction of these shape-specific designed ligands with different metal salts affords a series of discrete molecular architectures: [Ag(2)L(1)(2)](BF(4))(2) 1, [Ag(2)L(2)(2)](CF(3)SO(3))(2) 2, [CF(3)SO(3)(-) subset Ag(2)L(3)(2)]CF(3)SO(3) 3, [CF(3)SO(3)(-) subset Ag(2)L(3)(3)]CF(3)SO(3) 4, [ClO(4)(-) subset Cu(2)L(2)(4)](ClO(4))(3) 5, [4H(2)O subset Ni(2)L(2)(4)Cl(4)].6H(2)O 6, [BF(4)(-) subset Ag(3)L(4)(2)](BF(4))(2) 7, [ClO(4)(-) subset Ag(3)L(4)(2)](ClO(4))(2) 8, and [CuI(3)(2-) subset Cu(3)L(4)(2)](2)[Cu(2)I(4)] 9. The compounds were characterized by elemental analysis, ESI-MS, IR, and NMR spectroscopy, and X-ray crystallography. 1 is a dinuclear metallacycle with 2-fold rotational symmetry in which two syn-conformational L(1) ligands are connected by two linearly coordinated Ag(+) ions. 2 and 3 are structurally related, consisting of rectangular structures assembled from two linearly coordinated Ag(+) ions and two L(2) or L(3) ligands. The structure of 4 is a trigonal prismatic box consisting of two Ag(+) ions in trigonal planar coordination linked by three L(3) ligands, while the structures of 5 and 6 are tetragonal prismatic cages constructed by two square planar Cu(2+) or Ni(2+) ions linked by four L(2) ligands. The topologies of 7-9 are similar to that of 4; however, these three structures are assembled from three linearly coordinated Ag(+) or Cu(+) ions and two tripodal ligands, representing an alternative strategy to assembling a trigonal prism. (1)H NMR and ESI-MS were utilized to elucidate the solution structures of these macrocycles.