Peter R. Ashton, Andrew L. Burns, Christian G. Claessens, George K. H. Shimizu, Karen Small, J. Fraser Stoddart, Andrew J. P. White and David J. Williams
A mixed oxa–thia macrocycle incorporating a rigid ‘horseshoe-shaped’ aromatic moiety, 1,11,21-trioxa-8,14-dithia[2,9,2]paracyclophane, L, has been synthesised. The molecular structures of L and of its copper iodide complex have been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction methods. There are two independent conformations observed in the solid state for the macrocycle, L. Its copper iodide complex [Cu2I2(L)]·1.25MeCN, crystallises, in a 2∶1 metal∶crown ratio, as a one-dimensional infinite array of cubane-like units consisting of four copper atoms, four iodine atoms and four sulfur atoms from four different macrocycles.