Self-Assembly and Catalytic Reactivity of BINOL-Bridged Bis(phenanthroline) Metallocages.

Upon treatment with ZnII ions, a series of BINOL-bridged bis(phenanthroline) ligands was self-assembled into [M2L3] metallocages, which were carefully characterized by NMR spectroscopy and ESI-MS spectrometry. Among them, a racemic mixture of the BINOL-bridged bis(phenanthrolines) underwent chiral self-sorting to afford two homochiral metallocages. The narcissistic self-sorting process of the metallocages was observed in the complexation reaction of the constitutionally isomeric bis(phenanthrolines) with varying connection positions. Moreover, the endo hydroxyl-functionalized metallocage [Zn2{( S)-L2OH}3] exhibited catalytic activity and substrate selectivity for the Knoevenagel condensation reactions of aromatic tricarbaldehydes with malononitrile.