Amplification of impurity upon complex formation: how a 2% ligand impurity lowers the corresponding complex purity to 50%

Abstract

Small amounts of an impurity in a ligand can be greatly amplified upon formation of large metal–organic complexes, exemplified here by the formation of alkyne-functionalized nanojars. We demonstrate that the incorporation of the pyrazole ligand impurity into the nanojar is governed by statistics and does not directly reflect the actual ratio between the ligand and the impurity.