Chiral Metallocycles Templated Novel Chiral Water Frameworks

An intentionally synthesized chiral terpyridyl ligand S-2­(4-(2,6-di­(pyridin-2-yl)­pyridin-4-yl)-benzylamino)­propanoic acid (H2L) was used to construct two chiral NiII complexes, [Ni2­(HL)2­(N3)­(H2O)]­(N3)·19H2O (1) and [Ni2­(HL)2­(N3)2]·7H2O (2). Both complexes are dinuclear metallocyclic complexes. The monoanionic form (HL)− of the chiral ligand coordinates to the metal centers in a bichelating antiparallel fashion to form the metallomacrocycles where the chiral metallocycles Ni2(HL)2 template the formation of a novel chiral 3D zeolite-like water framework with nanometer cages trapping the metallocycles or anchor chiral water chains in the 1D channels of a resulting chiral 3D supermolecule, respectively.