Shape-, size-, and functional group-selective binding of small organic guests in a paramagnetic coordination cage.

The host-guest chemistry of the octanuclear cubic coordination cage [Co(8)L(12)](16+) (where L is a bridging ligand containing two chelating pyrazolyl-pyridine units connected to a central naphthalene-1,5-diyl spacer via methylene "hinges") has been investigated in detail by (1)H NMR spectroscopy. The cage encloses a cavity of volume of ca. 400 Å(3), which is accessible through 4 Å diameter portals in the centers of the cube faces.

Selective guest recognition by a self-assembled paramagnetic cage complex.

A cubic cage complex assembled from twelve bis-bidentate ligands and eight Co(II) ions provides a cavity that selectively recognises and binds coumarin in MeCN solution. The cage portals are large enough to allow guest exchange, but small enough to provide a kinetic trap; the cage paramagnetism facilitates detailed NMR analysis.

Structures, host-guest chemistry and mechanism of stepwise self-assembly of M4L6 tetrahedral cage complexes.

The ligand L(bip), containing two bidentate pyrazolyl-pyridine termini separated by a 3,3'-biphenyl spacer, has been used to prepare tetrahedral cage complexes of the form [M(4)(L(bip))(6)]X(8), in which a bridging ligand spans each of the six edges of the M(4) tetrahedron. Several new examples have been structurally characterized with a variety of metal cation and different anions in order to examine interactions between the cationic cage and various anions. Small anions such as BF(4)(-) and NO(3)(-) can occupy the central cavity where they are anchored by an array of CH···F or CH···O hydrogen-bonding interactions with the interior surface of the cage, but larger anions such as naphthyl-1-sulfonate or tetraphenylborate lie outside the cavity and interact with the external surface of the cage via CH···π interactions or CH···O hydrogen bonds.