Thermodynamically favored heteroleptic coordination of Pt(II) ions with one aza- and another oxo-coordinating ligand yield tricomponent supramolecular coordination complexes (SCCs), which possess much greater structural complexity and functional diversity than traditional bicomponent SCCs containing only one of the ligands. Through X-ray crystallography, 1H, 31P, and 2D NMR spectroscopies, mass spectrometry, and computational studies, herein, we demonstrated that heteroleptic coordination of tetrapyridyl porphyrins (MTPP, M = Zn or H2) and various dicarboxylate ligands (XDC) having different lengths and rigidity with cis-(Et3P)2PtII corners yielded bow-tie (⋈)-shaped tricomponent [{cis-(Et3P)2Pt}4(MTPP)(XDC)2]4+ complexes featuring a MTPP core and two parallel XDC linkers held together by four heteroligated PtII(N,O) corners and ruled out the MTPP-based tetragonal prism formation. Irrespective of the rigidity and length of the XDC linkers within a certain range (~7–11 Å), they intramolecularly bridged two adjacent pyridyl tips of an MTPP ligand via PtII(N,O) corners, which led to the formation of bow-tie complexes instead of prisms. This happened because the angles of projection between the adjacent pyridyl rings of MTPP cores adapted to accommodate the bridging XDC linkers having different lengths, and the bow-tie formation was entropically favored over tetragonal prisms. This work not only unveiled novel bow-tie-shaped coordination complexes, but also accurately defined the actual structures and compositions of MTPP-based tricomponent SCCs. Furthermore, a representative bow-tie complex containing an electron-rich ZnTPP core selectively formed a charge-transfer (CT) complex with highly electron deficient 1,4,5,8,9,12-hexaazatriphenylene-2,3,6,7,10,11-heaxacarbonitrile (HATHCN) but not with π-donors like pyrene.
4-vinylpyridine derivatives: Protonation, methylation and silver(I) coordination chemistry
