Anion Coordination into Ligand Clefts

Abstract

A tripodal anion receptor has been obtained by an easy and fast single-reaction synthesis from commercial reagents. The three ligand arms-bearing aromatic groups able to form anion–π interactions define ligand clefts where large anions, such as perchlorate and perrhenate, are included. We report here the synthesis of the ligand, its acid/base properties in an aqueous solution which has been used to direct the synthesis of anion complexes, and the crystal structure of the free ligand and its anion complexes H3L(ClO4)2·H2O and H3L(ReO4)2.