Inherent helicity in an extended tris-bipyridyl molecular cage

Abstract

A new molecular cage incorporating three bipyridyl units has been synthesised by a conventional multi-step procedure as well as, much more efficiently, by a Ni(II) template procedure; an X-ray structure of the nickel complex shows that it adopts an exo configuration of each of the bridgehead nitrogen lone pairs, the central metal ion acts to promote a triple helical twist that extends ∼22 Å along the axial length of the molecule.