916 Organometallics, Vol. 26, No. 4, 2007
GoVindaswamy et al.
tate ligand 1,4,7-trithiacyclononane, which coordinates facially
to ruthenium, was used to form a supramolecular cube.9 The
underlying strategy in those examples implies the blocking of
several coordination sites at the metal centers, thus generating
a preorganized arrangement before the formation of the su-
pramolecular assembly.
1,3,5-triazine (4-tpt) and 2,4,6-tris(pyridin-3-yl)-1,3,5-triazine
(3-tpt) ligands.
In a similar manner, cyclopentadienyl or arene ligands can
be used to control the accessibility of coordination sites of an
octahedral metal center.10 The use of these η5 or η6 ligands has
advantages. (i) The aromatic ligand occupies three of the six
coordination sites at the metal center, and the resulting
coordination geometry is pseudo-tetrahedral, allowing a better
control of the synthesis of two- or three-dimensional assemblies.
(ii) The aromatic ligand allows different substituents which can
enhance the solubility or add new properties to the molecular
assembly.
In this paper we report the synthesis and structural charac-
terization of achiral cationic trigonal (arene)ruthenium metallo-
prisms containing bridging chloro ligands.
We have been working with arene ruthenium complexes for
many years,11 and decided to use them as versatile building
blocks in supramolecular chemistry. The triangular prism is the
simplest three-dimensional construction, which involves only
five building blocks: two triangular subunits, and three linear
connecting units:
Results and Discussion
The dinuclear (arene)ruthenium complexes [Ru(η6-arene)(µ-
Cl)Cl]2 (arene ) p-PriC6H4Me, C6Me6) and 2,4,6-tris(pyridin-
4-yl)-1,3,5-triazine (4-tpt) react in water in the presence of
AgO3SCF3 to form in low yield (<25%) the hexanuclear cations
[Ru6(η6-p-PriC6H4Me)6(µ3-4-tpt-κN)2(µ-Cl)6]6+ (3) and [Ru6(η6-
C6Me6)6(µ3-4-tpt-κN)2(µ-Cl)6]6+ (4), respectively (see Scheme
1). However, we found that the yields of 3 and 4 can be
increased significantly by isolating the neutral intermediates
[Ru3(η6-p-PriC6H4Me)3(µ3-4-tpt-κN)Cl6] (1) and [Ru3(η6-C6-
Me6)3(µ3-4-tpt-κN)Cl6] (2), followed by addition of silver triflate
in dichloromethane, which affords 3 and 4 as the triflate salts
in overall yields of about 65%. This significant improvement
in the overall yield can be rationalized in terms of the tpt ligands
being predisposed to form π-π interacting systems, thus
optimizing the formation of a prism over other assemblies.
Despite a molecular weight of 3143.5 for [3][O3SCF3]6 and
3311.8 for [4][O3SCF3]6, the two hexanuclear complexes are
quite soluble in (CH3)2CO, CH3CN, and MeOH and sparingly
soluble in CH2Cl2 and CHCl3.
If these components do not contain stereogenic elements and if
the two planar triangular subunits are perfectly eclipsed, the
triangular prism obtained is achiral. However, a slight deviation
from the eclipsed conformation generates a “double-rosette” type
helicity with ∆ or Λ configuration.12 Recently we have shown
the cationic triangular metallo-prisms [Ru6(η6-arene)6(µ3-4-tpt-
κN)2(µ-C2O4-κO)3]6+ (arene ) p-PriC6H4Me, C6Me6) containing
bridging oxalato ligands to have a double-helical chirality.13
Using a similar approach, we have now synthesized chloro-
bridged metallo-prisms connected by 2,4,6-tris(pyridin-4-yl)-
1
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The H NMR spectra of 1-4 display similar signal patterns
for the pyridyl protons. Unlike the case for 1, where HR and Hâ
are found at the expected positions (9.3 and 8.5 ppm in CD2-
Cl2), in 3 the signals of HR and Hâ are almost superimposed at
8.7 ppm (see Figure 1). Upon formation of the triangular cationic
prism 3, the HR signal is shifted upfield, whereas the Hâ signal
is shifted downfield. In 3, the signals of the aromatic protons
of the p-cymene ligand are shifted downfield as well as
compared to those of 1 (Figure 1).
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