An octanuclear coordination cage with a ‘cuneane’ core—a topological isomer of a cubic cage

Abstract

The octanuclear coordination cage [Ni₈(L^14Naph)₁₂](BF₄)₁₆ has the core structure of a ‘cuneane’ - a toplogical isomer of a cube - with a metal ion at each of the eight vertices and bridging ligand spanning each of the twelve edges; this is the only possible 8-vertex polyhedron other than a cube that will form a cage in which each metal is connected to three others.