An octanuclear coordination cage with a 'cuneane' core--a topological isomer of a cubic cage.

The octanuclear coordination cage [Ni(8)(L(14Naph))(12)](BF(4))(16) has the core structure of a 'cuneane'--a toplogical isomer of a cube--with a metal ion at each of the eight vertices and bridging ligand spanning each of the twelve edges; this is the only possible 8-vertex polyhedron other than a cube that will form a cage in which each metal is connected to three others. This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011