Linear, Divergent Molecular Receptors – Subtle Effects of Transition Metal Coordination Geometry

Abstract

Reaction between deprotonated p-tert-butyltetrathiacalix[4]arene and CoII or ZnII under strictly defined conditions leads to the formation of sandwich species in which a trimetallic unit is held between two opposed, divergently oriented, staggered O- and S-bound calixarene ligands in the cone conformation. Despite the isomorphous nature of the crystalline compounds, there is a subtle difference in the coordination of CoII and ZnII, presumably related to the differences in metal radius and electron configuration combined with structural restrictions imposed by the calixarene framework, in that whereas all three Co atoms may be considered six-coordinate (and approximately octahedral), only two of the Zn atoms appear so, the third being five-coordinate and more nearly trigonal bipyramidal in its coordination geometry.