Metal-Ligand Coordination Driven Di/Tri-nuclear Helicate and Mesocate: A Brief Review

Abstract

Helicity is a geometric motif that can be observed in nature as well as artificial structures. In synthetic supramolecular architectures, helicity can be incorporated by conformational restrictions of macromolecules, inter- or intra- molecular hydrogen bonds or coordination to metal ions. In present brief review, the discussions will be restricted on the metal-ligand coordination driven self-assembled di/tri-nuclear helical structures. Furthermore, the chirality of the helical structures is enlightened, which arises due to preferential orientation of the ligand strands around the metal centers that comprise the formation of two type helicates, one is homo-chiral helicate and the other is hetero-chiral helicate or mesocate.