CALIXARENES - STRUCTURE OF AN ACETONITRILE INCLUSION COMPLEX AND SOMETRANSITION-METAL RIMMED DERIVATIVES

The host t-butylcalix[4]arene, 1a, forms a 1 : 1 inclusion compound wi th acetonitrile as guest. The inclusion compound has been isolated and characterised by X-ray analysis of a twinned crystal at 123 K. The ac etonitrile guest lies on a crystallographic four-fold symmetry axis pa ssing through the centre of the bowl of 1a which adopts a regular cone conformation. A known tetradentate and a new tridentate phosphinitoca lix[4]arene derivative, 2a and 2c respectively, have been synthesized from la and Ph(2)Cl. Both 2a and 29 show a strong ability to coordinat e with late transition metals and new complexes of gold(I), palladium( II) and platinum(II) are reported.