Conversion of 12-membered d₃- and l₃-CoCd metallorings into a 24-membered d₃l₃-CoCd metalloring

The treatment of [Co(d- or l-ebp)]- with CdX2 (X = Br-, I-) gave a cyclic CoIII3CdII3 complex with a 12-membered metalloring, [Cd3X3{Co(d- or l-ebp)}3] (d3- or l3-1X). The use of a 1 : 1 mixture of [Co(d-ebp)]- and [Co(l-ebp)]-, instead of [Co(d- or l-ebp)]-, led to the creation of a cyclic CoIII6CdII6 complex with a 24-membered metalloring, [Cd6X6(H2O)6{Co(d-ebp)}3{Co(l-ebp)}3] (d3l3-2X). Compounds d3l3-2X were also produced when d3-1X and l3-1X were mixed in water in a 1 : 1 ratio, illustrating the conversion of a pair of homochiral metallorings into a double-sized heterochiral metalloring.