Rhenium-Pyrazolyl-Based Figure-Eight- and Z-Shaped Metallocycles: Self-Assembly, Solid-State Structures, Dynamic Properties in Solution, and Competitive Ligand-Induced Supramolecular Transformations into Rhenium-Pyridyl/-Benzimidazolyl/-Phosphine-Based Metallocycles/Acyclic Complexes.

Rhenium(I)tricarbonyl core-based heteroleptic "figure-eight"- and Z-shaped metallocycles (-) of the general formula -[{(CO)Re(μ-L)Re(CO)}(dppz)] were self-assembled from Re(CO), H-L (H-L = 5,8-dihydroxy-1,4-naphthaquinone (H-dhnq) for ; 1,4-dihydroxy-9,10-anthraquinone (H-dhaq) for ; 6,11-dihydroxy-5,12-naphthacenedione (H-dhnd) for ; 2,2'-bisbenzimidazole (H-bbim) for ), and bis(4-((pyrazolyl)methyl)phenylmethane) (dppz) via one-pot coordination-driven synthetic approach. The molecular structures of and were unambiguously confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SC-XRD) methods. The metallocycles in the DMSO solution exist as an acyclic dinuclear-DMSO adduct of the general formula -[{(CO)Re(μ-L)Re(CO)}(DMSO)] (, L = dhnq; , L = dhaq; , L = dhnd; , L = bbim) and dppz, which are in dynamic equilibrium.

Trinuclear rhenium(I)-based metallocages as anticancer agents towards human cervical cancer cells.

The first examples of spherical-shaped trinuclear rhenium(I) organometallic cages displaying cytotoxic, antimetastatic, antiproliferative and DNA-damaging behavior towards a human cervical (HeLa) cancer cell line are reported. The compact design of the metallocages facilitates their interactions with biosystems leading to comparable efficiency to that of the commonly used anticancer drug cisplatin.

Rhenium(I)-Based Neutral Coordination Cages with a Spherical Cavity for Selective Recognition of Fluoride.

Neutral heteroleptic trinuclear coordination cages containing a preorganized well-defined small spherical endocavity, which is made up of electron-deficient bowl frameworks, three coordination-induced neutral polar C-H donors, and a phenyl motif, were self-assembled via a one-pot approach; the endocavity accommodates fluoride selectively in the presence of other halides.