Rational Design of Polynuclear Organometallic Assemblies from a Simple Heteromultifunctional Ligand

In modern coordination chemistry, supramolecular coordination complexes take advantage of ligand design to control the shapes and sizes of such architectures. Here we describe how to utilize starting building blocks and a multifunctional ligand to rationally design and synthesize different types of discrete assemblies. Using a hydroxamate ligand featuring two pair of chelating sites together with half-sandwich iridium and rhodium fragments, we were able to construct a series multinuclear organometallic macrocycles and cages through stepwise coordination-driven self-assembly. Experimental observations, supported by computational work, show that selective coordination modes were ascribed to the significant electronic density differences of the two chelating sites, (O,O') and (N,N'). The results underline the advantages of the discrimination between soft and hard binding sites, and suggest that hydroxamic acids can be used as a versatile class of facile multifunctional scaffold for the construction of novel two-dimensional and three-dimensional architectures.