Neatly wrapped up: alternately stacked square-planar platinum(II) complexes inside a dinuclear coordination cage were prepared to give a discrete and soluble Pt(5) -array of the Magnus' salt type. Characterization of the complex in solution was complemented by an X-ray crystal structure of {[Pt(pyridine)(4)]⋅ [PtCl(4)](2) @Cage}; this structure showed the linear, pentanuclear array within the cages and their circular packing into a hollow tubular superstructure.

The strength and mode of binding (inside vs outside) of bisanionic guest molecules to a cationic, self-assembled metal-organic cage depend on their size and the stoichiometry of the addition. Herein we show that the composition of the solid/liquid phase of a heterogeneous system can be kinetically controlled by the order of the addition of two different guest compounds.

No abstract

No abstract