Toward Self-Assembled Surface-Mounted Prismatic Altitudinal Rotors. A Test Case:  Trigonal and Tetragonal Prisms

A self-assembly path toward prismatic molecular rotors based on transversely reactive terminally metalated molecular rods and pyridine-terminated star connectors has been extended. The concept has been tested on the assembly of trigonal and tetragonal prisms from the biphenyl rod, [Ph2P(CH2)3PPh2]Pt+-C6H4-C6H4-Pt+[Ph2P(CH2)3PPh2], and the star-shaped connectors, 1,3,5-tris(4-ethynylpyridyl)benzene and [tetrakis(4-pyridyl)cyclobutadiene]cyclopentadienylcobalt, respectively. The prisms have been fully characterized by NMR and MS, including diffusion-ordered NMR and collision-induced dissociation, and their chiral structures optimized by molecular mechanics are discussed.