A chiral, nonracemic pentadentate pyridine bis(oxazoline) ligand forms unprecedented P-helical inorganic-organic hybrid polymers with cadmium halides. The one-dimensional chains consist of Lambda2-configured pentagonal-bipyramidal cadmium complexes with metal-centered chirality bridged by [CdX4]2- tetrahedra via shared halide atoms. In the solid state, the overall helicity exhibits strongly directed orientation parallel to the crystallographic axis a.

New metal complexes with pentagonal-bipyramidal geometry have been synthesized with the chiral, pentadentate bis(oxazoline) ligand (R,R)-1, including the metal ions magnesium(II), iron(II), and cadmium(II). In the solid state, a complete transfer of chirality from the ligand is observed to exclusively yield enantiomerically pure P-helical, isostructural pentagonal bipyramidal complexes, as determined by X-ray analysis of four compounds. This uncommon coordination geometry is likely to be driven by pi-pi-stacking of the terminal phenyl groups of the linear ligands. The complex cations in [Fe((R,R)-1)(H2O)2](ClO4)2 (3), [Cd((R,R)-1)(H2O)2](ClO4)2 (4), and [Mg((R,R)-1)(H2O)2](ClO4)2 (5) are mononuclear with the two apical positions of the pentagonal bipyramide occupied by two water molecules. In contrast, the structure in dinuclear [Cd((R,R)-1)(MeOH)(mu-I)(CdI3)] (2c) can be described as pentagonal-bipyramidal around cadmium with MeOH and distorted-tetrahedral CdI4 (via one bridging iodo ligand) completing the coordination sphere in axial positions. The crystal packing of 3-5 shows a highly ordered orientation of the mononuclear helical cations into one-dimensional chains along the crystallographic axis a, stabilized by intermolecular pi-pi-stacking. In contrast, the dinuclear helices in 2c are tilted relative to one another, and consequently, directed, one-dimensional helicity in the solid state is not observed. Studies using a combination of mass spectrometry and NMR and CD spectroscopy indicate the presence of only one C2-symmetrical, mononuclear species in acetonitrile for each case, suggesting the formation of diastereo- and enantiomerically pure complexes also in the solution state. All compounds exhibit a very characteristic and almost identical CD pattern between 200 nm and 300 nm. This signal can be attributed to the P-helical, pentagonal arrangement of the ligand.

The controlled construction of complexes with stereogenic metal centers ("chiral-at-metal complexes") is an important task because of the potential impact on various areas of chemical research, for example, supramolecular chemistry, asymmetric catalysis, or biological recognition. Since the first separation of the enantiomers of an inorganic coordination compound in 1911 by Werner, [1] the area of inorganic stereochemistry has emerged as a rapidly growing field, especially over the last years. In particular, the transfer of chirality from chiral, nonracemic organic ligands to metal centers with a variety of coordination geometries has attracted great interest. [2,3] Predetermined chirality around a trigonal-bipyramidalcoordinated metal center is rather rare and normally favored with tripodal ligands.[4] Except for the complexes described herein, only three other examples with topologically linear ligands exist.[4a-c] To date, only the employment of enantiomeric (trivial) or diastereomeric [4b] ligands is suitable to enforce the formation of opposite chiral configurations.In our case, only two achiral donor atoms are exchanged in an otherwise isosteric ligand to complete this task. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that this phenomenon is observed. The closest analogy can be seen in the cobalt complexes of ligand 1:[5] Whereas 1 a forms an octahedral complex with D 2 configuration upon complexation

A8Tl11 (A = alkali metal) compounds have been known since the investigations of Corbett et al. in 1995 and are still a matter of current discussions as the compound includes one extra electron referred to the charge of the Tl117− cluster. Attempts to substitute this additional electron by incorporation of a halide atom succeeded in the preparation of single crystals for the lightest triel homologue of the group, Cs8Ga11Cl, and powder diffraction experiments for the heavier homologues also suggested the formation of analogous compounds. However, X-Ray single crystal studies on A8Tl11X to prove this substitution and to provide a deeper insight into the influence on the thallide substructure have not yet been performed, probably due to severe absorption combined with air and moisture sensitivity for this class of compounds. Here, we present single crystal X-Ray structure analyses of the new compounds Cs8Tl11Cl0.8, Cs8Tl11Br0.9, Cs5Rb3Tl11Cl0.5, Cs5.7K2.3Tl11Cl0.6 and K4Rb4Tl11Cl0.1. It is shown that a (partial) incorporation of halide can also be indirectly determined by examination of the Tl-Tl distances, thereby the newly introduced cdd/cdav ratio allows to evaluate the degree of distortion of Tl117− clusters.

Phenyl-2,6-bis(oxazole) ligands have been explored for the synthesis of novel palladium(II) and platinum(II) pincer complexes. The materials were characterized by spectroscopic methods and by X-ray crystallography. Investigations of the photophysical properties revealed that the lowest triplet states of the materials are largely centred at the bis(oxazole) ligands. The platinum(II) compounds are moderately emissive in fluid solution at ambient temperature. Introduction of both strong donors and strong acceptors leads to a significant red shift of the emission. Due to the facile synthesis of bis(oxazole) based complexes with electronically tuneable oxazole moieties, these materials might be promising alternatives to the well-established phenyl-2,6-bipyridyl systems.