Helical structures of tribenzylamine supramolecular complexes with [CoCl4]2-/[CuCl4]2-, and conformational comparisons of tribenzylamine in different supramolecular complexes

摘要

The compound tribenzylamine (TBA) and its derivatives are a type of classical tripodal ligands in building up diversity of supramolecular arrays or networks. In the present contribution, we described two new supramolecular complexes 2[C_(21)H_(22)N~+]·[CoCl_4]~2-·(1) and 2[C_(21)H_(22)N~+]·[CuCl_4]~2- (2) by reacting protonated TBA with CoCl_2·6H_2O/CuCl_2·2H_2O. Different from previous TBA supramolecular complexes, these two supramolecular complexes were easier to obtain by grinding protonated TBA and CoCl_2·6H_2O/CuCl_2·2H_2O in an agate mortar than using conventional solution method. The two supramolecular complexes form fascinating 3D helical architectures, with two types of interwoven helical chains involved inside the structures. A comparison of the geometries of TBA in these two supramolecular complexes with the previously reported TBA supramolecular complexes shows that the significant differences are due to the conformation of the three arms of phenyl rings around the N center.