Self-assembly of nanoscale supramolecular truncated tetrahedra

Two nanoscale truncated tetrahedra were synthesized via Pt(II)-mediated self-assembly. The first resulted from the reaction of 3 equiv of cis-Pt(PMe3)2(OTf)2 and 2 equiv of 1,3,5-tris(4-pyridylethynyl)benzene, giving a truncated tetrahedron with a diameter of approximately 25 A. The second, analogous structure was obtained by the self-assembly of cis-Pt(PMe3)2(OTf)2 and 1,3,5-tris(4-pyridyl-trans-ethenyl)benzene. These two truncated tetrahedra were crystallized after partially exchanging the counterion to cobalticarborane for the X-ray structural analysis.