Self-Assembly and Catalytic Reactivity of BINOL-Bridged Bis(phenanthroline) Metallocages

Upon treatment with ZnII ions, a series of BINOL-bridged bis­(phenanthroline) ligands was self-assembled into [M2L3] metallocages, which were carefully characterized by NMR spectroscopy and ESI-MS spectrometry. Among them, a racemic mixture of the BINOL-bridged bis­(phenanthrolines) underwent chiral self-sorting to afford two homochiral metallocages. The narcissistic self-sorting process of the metallocages was observed in the complexation reaction of the constitutionally isomeric bis­(phenanthrolines) with varying connection positions. Moreover, the endo hydroxyl-functionalized metallocage [Zn2{(S)-L2 OH }3] exhibited catalytic activity and substrate selectivity for the Knoevenagel condensation reactions of aromatic tricarbaldehydes with malononitrile.