Global Chirality in Rigid Decametallic Ruthenium Dendrimers

Metallodendrimers with ten chiral Ru centers have been prepared in a stereospecific fashion (see picture; *=chiral Ru(diimine)(3) center). These molecules are conformationally rigid and exhibit well-defined global topologies: some diastereomers exhibit macroscopically chiral structures, others show a disklike topology. This difference in global or tertiary structure is exemplified by differences in their colloidal behavior, as observed in electric birefringence measurements.