Nature of the reactants and influence of water on the supramolecular assembly

The influences of the nature of reactants and water on the self-assembly of cationic Cu(II) complex structures containing N-(2-pyridylmethyl)glycine (Hpgly) and N-(2-pyridylmethyl)-l-alanine (Hpala) ligands have been investigated. A metallamacrocycle [Cu(6)(pgly)(3)(spgly)(3)] (ClO(4))(6).9H(2)O has been formed by the reaction of [Cu(pgly)(2)].2H(2)O with Cu(ClO(4))(2).6H(2)O. The hexameric cation has Schiff base and reduced Schiff base ligands alternatively bonded to Cu(II) to provide cyclohexane-like conformation with a cavity diameter of 9.4 A. The reaction of Cu(ClO(4))(2).6H(2)O with Hpgly.HCl yielded [Cu(pgly)(H(2)O)](ClO(4)), which is presumed to have 1D coordination polymeric structure. A [K subset [12-MC-3]] metallacrown, [K(ClO(4))(3)[Cu(3)(pala)(3)]](ClO(4)) has been isolated by reacting Cu(ClO(4))(2) with Kpala in MeCN/MeOH. This [K subset [12-MC-3]] metallacrown further reacts with water to form an infinite 1D coordination polymer [Cu(pala)(H(2)O)(ClO(4))](n)(), which can also be obtained by conducting the reaction in aqueous MeOH.