The ferrocene bearing the podand dipeptide chains, Ala-Pro-OEt, which
are aligned parallel in solution by the two rigid intramolecular hydro
gen bonds, manifests a novel helically ordered arrangement with one tu
rn of 14.70 Angstrom pitch height in the crystal packing possibly due
to the intramolecular hydrogen bends (the N-H ... O=C distance is 2.06
Angstrom) and the hydrophobic interaction of the podand dipeptide cha
ins (the distance between the nearest ferrocene units is 4.54 Angstrom
).