Preparation of a chiral, 2-dimensional network containing metallacrown andcopper benzoate building blocks

Chiral metallacrowns have been fused into layers using neutral copper benzo ate paddlewheel dimers and nitrate anions to link each 12-MC-4 molecule. Th e solid contains approximately 9 Angstrom channels that are filled with sol vent and a benzoic acid guest. A related chain structure that is generated by connecting metallacrowns with the copper dimer, but which does not have nitrate bridges in the second dimension, also has channels of similar size. These observations suggest a generalizable strategy for the preparation of microporous chiral solids in bulk quantities. [GRAPHICS]