sp Carbon Chains Surrounded by sp3 Carbon Double Helices: A Class of Molecules that are Accessible by Self-Assembly and Models for “Insulated” Molecular-Scale Devices We thank the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB 583), Johnson Matthey PMC (platinum loan), the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, and the Fulbright Commission (Fellowships, J.M.M.-A.) for support, and Dr. A. M. Arif for assistance with the analysis of one crystal structure.

Abstract

Neither bonding interactions between the strands nor covalent bonds to metal templates dispersed throughout the strands are needed for the molecules presented here to adopt double-helical structures (see picture). The molecules consist of rigid (CC)m chains that bridge two platinum atoms, which are in turn bridged by two diphosphane ligands of the formula Ar2P(CH2)nPAr2.