title: Design and self-assembly of wide and robust coordination cages.
abstract: The self-assembly of a new class of coordination cages formed from two tetrapyridyl-substituted cavitands connected through four square-planar palladium or platinum complexes is reported. The shape of the internal cavity resembles an ellipsoid with a calculated volume of 840 A(3). The four lateral portals have a diameter of about 6 A, large enough to allow the fast entrance/egress of counterions in solution. The platinum cages 3a,e cannot be disassembled using triethylamine as competitive ligand and they are kinetically stable at room temperature, whereas the palladium cages 3b-d, 3f-h are disassembled and kinetically labile under the same conditions. The different solubility properties of the cage components have allowed the extension of this self-assembly protocol to the liquid-liquid interface.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chimica Organica e Industriale, Università di Parma and INSTM, UdR Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pirondini
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bertolini
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cantadori
authors.forename: Franco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ugozzoli
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Massera
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dalcanale
mesh_terms: D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D007700:Kinetics; D008024:Ligands; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009570:Nitriles / Q000737:chemistry; D010165:Palladium / Q000737:chemistry*; D010984:Platinum / Q000737:chemistry*; D011485:Protein Binding; D011725:Pyridines / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D008024:Ligands; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D009570:Nitriles; D011725:Pyridines; D010984:Platinum; D010165:Palladium; C023666:pyridine