Self-assembled hexanuclear arene ruthenium metallo-prisms with unexpected double helical chirality.

Self-assembly of 2,4,6-tripyridyl-1,3,5-triazine (tpt) subunits with arene ruthenium building blocks and oxalato bridges affords cationic triangular metallo-prisms of the type [Ru6(arene)6(tpt)2(C2O4)3]6+ (arene = C6Me6 and p-Pr(i)C6H4Me); the unexpected double helical chirality of the metallo-prisms observed in the solid state persists in solution giving rise to two different stereodynamic processes as demonstrated by NMR enantiodifferentiation experiments.