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Updated: Feb 11, 2026

Molten-Salt Synthesis of Complex Metal Oxide Nanoparticles
Published on: October 27, 2018
Synthesis of stable polymetalated aromatic complexes through metal-macrocycle capsule-triggered cyclization
Xin He1, Yang Xue1, Cui-Cui Li1
1The Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Phosphorus Chemistry & Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education) , Department of Chemistry , Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084 , China .
Abstract:
Polymetalated aromatic compounds are of great interest because of their intermediate roles in many organic transformations. However, they are elusive and synthetically challenging. In this study, a dynamic coordination capsule constructed by a flexible macrocycle and silver(i) ions is applied to trigger one-step or cascade cyclization reactions for various alkyne substrates, finally leading to five unprecedented polysilver heteroaromatic intermediates (including indole, quinoline, benzocarbazole and 2,2'-biindole). The acquired heteroaromatic species is doubly charged, particularly at vicinal positions, and each is surrounded by a tetrasilver aggregate. The metal-macrocycle capsule holds a great potential of flexibly adjusting its conformation to adapt different polysilver heteroaromatic species. DFT calculations further reveal that metal-perturbed aromaticity and multi-centered bonding both contribute to stabilization of the polysilver heteroaromatic complexes.
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