Metal directed self-assembly has yielded a wide array of two- and three-dimensional structures with fascinating new chemical properties. These structures have typically been prepared utilizing transition metals as directing units, owing to the well-defined coordination preferences these metals exhibit. An area of growing research interest involves the preparation of structures containing main group elements as directing units. This tutorial review surveys the wide range of structure types available through this approach, specifically covering unique structure types accessible from the unusual coordination geometries often exhibited by the elements in Groups 12-17 of the periodic table. This review should be of interest to supramolecular and main group chemists, and researchers in the fields of crystal engineering, host-guest chemistry, and molecular recognition.

An exhaustive structural survey was analyzed in combination with new structural reports on pnictogen 3 3 3 π interactions. The Cambridge Structural Database was searched for examples of pnictogen atoms (As, Sb, and Bi) that lie within the sum of their van der Waals radii with an arene ring. The results were analyzed, and it was concluded that the interaction distance is shorter for the heavier pnictogens due to the increasingly diffuse nature of the lone pair of electrons on the atom. A weak correlation between the distance and the angle of the interaction was found, implying that the interaction is partially covalent in nature but is primarily a dispersion interaction. These arene 3 3 3 π interactions can be used as driving forces for supramolecular assembly, and the crystal structures of two new arsenic-containing assemblies are presented. The combined analysis of these structures and the structural survey suggest that our supramolecular design strategy can be fine-tuned to take advantage of the pnictogen 3 3 3 π interaction.

Treatment of N-(2-mercaptoethyl)-1,8-naphthalimide (HL) with stoichiometric amounts of AsCl(3) and base affords AsL(2)Cl and AsL(3) complexes stabilized in part by secondary As...O bonding interactions.