Building cyclotriveratrylene host molecules into network structures

Cyclotriveratrylene is a rigid bowl-shaped host molecule that can be used as a 3-connecting crystal engineering tecton by virtue of its tris-dimethoxy arrangement which may act as hydrogen bond acceptors, or chelating ligand sites. Network structures of unusual topology have resulted, and a number of common structural types are emerging. The tetragonal structure of [Fe(H₂O)₆]{(CH₃CN)(CTV)}₄(H₂O)₄[Co(C₂B₉H₁₁)₂]₂ has been determined and features an unusual 3,12-connected 3D hydrogen bonded network structure, with the [Fe(H₂O)₆]²⁺ complex cation disordering to achieve the required geometry for the network. The structure of [Ag(CTV)₂(H₂O)₃(CH₃CN)₂](CB₁₁H₁₂) has been determined and likewise conforms to a key structural type, and shows novel coordination of CTV to Ag⁺ centres.