Rational design of molecular sheets composed of interconnecting eight- and twenty-four-membered rings: use of lithiated aggregates to control network assembly

The lithiated (organo)sulfonylacetonitrile complex MeSO(2)CHCNLi.THF] (3) has been prepared and structurally characterized in order to demonstrate that well-known molecular aggregates of s-block metals may be used as building blocks in the controlled assembly of complex supramolecular architectures. The solid state structure of 3 can be described as a novel basket-weaved, 2-D network, composed of (SO(2)Li)(2) "dimeric" rings joined via "interdimer" donation of nitrile units.