Chiral Metallocycles Templated Novel Chiral Water Frameworks

An intentionally synthesized chiral terpyridyl ligand S-2­(4-(2,6-di­(pyridin-2-yl)­pyridin-4-yl)-benzylamino)­propanoic acid (H₂L) was used to construct two chiral Ni^II complexes, [Ni₂­(HL)₂­(N₃)­(H₂O)]­(N₃)·19H₂O (1) and [Ni₂­(HL)₂­(N₃)₂]·7H₂O (2). Both complexes are dinuclear metallocyclic complexes. The monoanionic form (HL)⁻ of the chiral ligand coordinates to the metal centers in a bichelating antiparallel fashion to form the metallomacrocycles where the chiral metallocycles Ni₂(HL)₂ template the formation of a novel chiral 3D zeolite-like water framework with nanometer cages trapping the metallocycles or anchor chiral water chains in the 1D channels of a resulting chiral 3D supermolecule, respectively.