Chiral metallacyclophanes: self-assembly, characterization, and application in asymmetric catalysis.

[structure: see text] A family of chiral metallacyclophanes has been readily assembled based on robust Pt-acetylide linkage and characterized by a variety of spectroscopic techniques and X-ray crystallography. The steric congestion around the chiral dihydroxy groups in rigid metallacyclophane 4 prevents their reactions with Ti(O(i)()Pr)(4) to form active catalysts for enantioselective diethylzinc additions to aromatic aldehydes. In contrast, chiral dihydroxy groups in more flexible unclosed metallacyclophane 5 are effective ligands for enantioselective catalytic diethylzinc additions to aromatic aldehydes.