sp Carbon Chains Surrounded by sp3 Carbon Double
Helices: Coordination-Driven Self-Assembly of Wirelike
Pt(C⋮C)nPt Moieties That Are Spanned by Two P(CH2)mP
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posted on 2007-07-04, 00:00authored byJürgen Stahl, Wolfgang Mohr, Laura de Quadras, Thomas B. Peters, James C. Bohling, José Miguel Martín-Alvarez, Gareth R. Owen, Frank Hampel, John A. Gladysz
Reactions of trans,trans-(C6F5)(p-tol3P)2Pt(C⋮C)4Pt(Pp-tol3)2(C6F5) and diphosphines Ar2P(CH2)mPAr2 yield in which the platinum
atoms are spanned via an sp and two sp3 carbon chains (Ar/m = 3, Ph/14, 87%; 4, p-tol/14, 91%; 5,
p-C6H4-t-Bu/14, 77%; 7, Ph/10, 80%; 8, Ph/11, 80%; 9, Ph/12, 36%; only oligomers form for m > 14).
Crystal structures of 3−5 show that the sp3 chains adopt chiral double-helical conformations that shield
the sp chain at approximately the van der Waals distance, with both enantiomers in the unit cell. The
platinum square planes define angles of 196.6°−189.9° or more than a half twist. Crystal structures of
7−9, which have shorter sp3 chains, exhibit nonhelical conformations. Reaction of the corresponding Pt(C⋮C)6Pt complex and Ph2P(CH2)18PPh2 gives an analogous adduct (27%). The crystal structure shows
two independent molecules, one helical and the other not. Low-temperature NMR data suggest that the
enantiomeric helical conformations of 3−5 rapidly interconvert in solution. Cyclic voltammograms of 3−5
show more reversible oxidations than model compounds lacking bridging sp3 chains. These are the only
double-helical molecules that do not feature bonding interactions between the helix strands, or covalent
bonds to templates dispersed throughout the strands, or any type of encoding. The driving force for helix
formation is analyzed.