Self-assembly of a "cationic-cage" the formation of Ag-carbene bonds followed by imine condensation

• Published in: Chemical communications (Cambridge, England) England), 2019-06, Vol.55 (47), p.6711-6714
• Main Authors: Modak, Ritwik, Mondal, Bijnaneswar, Howlader, Prodip, Mukherjee, Partha Sarathi
• Format: Article
• ISSN: 1359-7345; 1364-548X
• DOI: 10.1039/c9cc02341k

A new strategy for the synthesis of a "cationic-cage" ( CC-Ag ) has been developed via metal-carbene (M-C NHC ) bond formation followed by imine bond condensation. Reaction of a trigonal trisimidazolium salt H 3 L (PF 6 ) 3 functionalized with three flexible N -phenyl-aldehyde pendants with silver oxide yielded a trinuclear tricationic organometallic cage ( OC-Ag ). Subsequent treatment of the organometallic cage ( OC-Ag ) with 1,4-diaminobutane links the two tris-NHC ligands via imine bond condensation, which thus generates a 3D 'cationic-cage' ( CC-Ag ). Furthermore, post-synthetic replacement of the Ag( i ) with Au( i ) leading to the formation of CC-Au was achieved via trans -metalation, with the retention of the molecular architecture. We develop a new strategy for the synthesis of a "cationic-cage" ( CC-Ag ) via metal-carbene (M-C NHC ) bond formation followed by imine condensation. While the aldehyde alone doesn't yield the desired cage with the amine, Ag-NHC bond formation allows such condensation, leading to the formation of a "cationic-cage".