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Updated: Oct 25, 2025

Construction and Systematical Symmetric Studies of a Series of Supramolecular Clusters with Binary or Ternary Ammonium Triphenylacetates
Published on: February 15, 2016
Tertiary Chiral Nanostructures from C-H⋅⋅⋅F Directed Assembly of Chiroptical Superatoms
Hui Shen1, Zhen Xu1, Lingzheng Wang1
1State Key Laboratory for Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, National & Local Joint Engineering Research Center for Preparation Technology of Nanomaterials, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China.
Abstract:
We report the synthesis and structure of tertiary chiral nanostructures with 100 % optical purity. A novel synthetic strategy, using chiral reducing agent, R and S-BINAPCuBH4 (BINAP is 2,2'-Bis(diphenylphosphino)-1,1'-binaphthyl), is developed to access to atomically precise, intrinsically chiral [Au7 Ag6 Cu2 (R- or S-BINAP)3 (SCH2 Ph)6 ]SbF6 nanoclusters in one-pot synthesis. The clusters represent the first tri-metallic superatoms with inherent chirality and fair stability. Both metal distribution (primary) and ligand arrangement (secondary) of the enantiomers exhibited perfect mirror images, and unprecedentedly, the self-assembly driven by the C-H⋅⋅⋅F interaction between the phenyl groups of the superatom moieties and SbF6 - anions induced the formation of bio-mimic left- and right-handed helices, achieving the tertiary chiral nanostructures. DFT calculations revealed the connections between the molecular details and chiral optical activity.
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