Supramolecular structures from mono and dimetalated biscarbene ligands.

A series of benzobisimidazolium salts 1a-d has been prepared by tetraalkylation of benzobisimidazol. The salts 1a-d react with two equivalents of [Pt(Cl)2dppe] in the presence of 2.2 equivalents of sodium acetate to yield the dinuclear biscarbene complexes 2a-d. Under the same reaction conditions, the benzobisimidazolium salts react with only one equivalent of [Pt(Cl)2dppe] and one equivalent of sodium acetate to yield the monometalated carbene/benzimidazolium derivatives 3a,3c. Benzobisimidazolium salt 1c reacts with two equivalents of nickelocene to give the biscarbene bridged dinuclear nickel complex 4. Treatment of 4 with two equivalents of 4,4-bipyridine leads to the formation of the CpNiII-cornered molecular rectangle 5.