ZnII–salphen complexes are readily accessible and interesting supramolecular building blocks with a large structural diversity. Higher‐order supramolecular assemblies, such as molecular boxes based on a bis‐ZnII–salphen building block and various ditopic bipyridine ligands, have been constructed by means of supramolecular, coordinative ZnII–Npyr interactions. The use of bipyridine ligands of differing sizes enables the construction of structures with predefined box diameters. The features of the 2:2 box assemblies were investigated in detail by (variable temperature) NMR spectroscopy, UV‐visible spectroscopy, NMR titrations, and X‐ray crystallographic studies. The spectroscopic studies reveal a high association constant for the ZnII–salphen–pyridyl motif, which lies in the range 105–106 M−1. The strong interaction between the ZnII center and pyridine donors was supported by PM3 calculations that showed a relatively high Lewis acid character of the metal center in the salphen complex. Titration curves monitored by UV‐visible show a cooperative effect between the two bipyridine ligands upon complexation to the bis‐ZnII template, suggesting the formation of 2:2 complexes. The crystal structures of two supramolecular boxes have been determined. In both examples such a 2:2 assembly is present in the solid state, and the box size is different because they consist of different building blocks. Interestingly, the box assemblies line up in the solid state to form porous channels that are potentially useful in a number of applications.

We report the formation of high-precision catalysts using encapsulated rhodium complexes. In the current example, the encapsulated rhodium catalyst shows unprecedented high selectivity in the rhodium-catalyzed hydroformylation of internal alkenes, forming predominantly one of the branched aldehydes. This catalyst system is the first example that is able to discriminate between carbon atoms C3 and C4 in trans-3-octene.

We report the template-induced formation of chelating heterobidentate ligands by the selective self-assembly of two different monodentate ligands on a rigid bis-zinc(II)-salphen template with two identical binding sites; these templated heterobidentate ligands induce much higher enantioselectivities (up to 72% ee) in the rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric hydroformylation of styrene than any of the corresponding homobidentate ligands or non-templated mixed ligand combinations (up to 13% ee).

Sulfonamido-phosphoramidite ligands lead to the formation of Rh-Rh dinuclear complexes through the anionic P-N(-) bridging character. The resulting "boat-shaped" dinuclear catalysts activate molecular H(2) through a cooperative dinuclear endocyclic mechanism, resulting in one bridging and one classical hydride on the dinuclear complex. These new complexes are very active hydrogenation catalysts that operate via a new cooperative hydrogenation activation mechanism, as calculated with density functional theory, and they display unequaled high selectivities in the hydrogenation of hindered cyclic acetamidoalkenes.

The formation of a dimeric structure of a nonsymmetric Zn(II)salphen complex is reported. The X-ray molecular structure show the formation of an oxygen-bridged species (2). In addition to this structure, a pyridine-ligated complex and an 1:2 dabco/Zn(II)salphen supramolecular assembly (dabco = diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane) are presented. Their coordination behavior has been studied and can be correlated with the substitution pattern of the salphen ligand and the donor-strength of the involved axial ligands. The Zn(II)salphen building blocks bind in a cooperative fashion to the dabco template, the second unit being bound 4 times more strongly.