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Updated: Apr 16, 2026
Synthesis of a Water-soluble Metal–Organic Complex Array
Published on: October 8, 2016
Solvent-free ball-milling subcomponent synthesis of metallosupramolecular complexes
Chandan Giri1, Prasit Kumar Sahoo, Rakesh Puttreddy
1School of Chemical Sciences, National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) Bhubaneswar, Institute of Physics Campus, P.O. Sainik School, Bhubaneswar, Odisha 751005 (India); University of Jyvaskyla, Department of Chemistry, Nanoscience Center, P.O. Box. 35, 40014 University of Jyvaskyla (Finland).
Abstract:
Subcomponent self-assembly from components A, B, C, D, and Fe(2+) under solvent-free conditions by self-sorting leads to the construction of three structurally different metallosupramolecular iron(II) complexes. Under carefully selected ball-milling conditions, tetranuclear [Fe4 (AD2 )6 ](4-) 22-component cage 1, dinuclear [Fe2 (BD2 )3 ](2-) 11-component helicate 2, and 5-component mononuclear [Fe(CD3 )](2+) complex 3 were prepared simultaneously in a one-pot reaction from 38 components. Through subcomponent substitution reaction by adding subcomponent B, the [Fe4 (AD2 )6 ](4-) cage converts quantitatively to the [Fe2 (BD2 )3 ](2-) helicate, which, in turn, upon addition of subcomponent C, transforms to [Fe(CD3 )](2+) , following the hierarchical preference based on the thermodynamic stability of the complexes.
