2004 Alcan Award LectureFrom dinuclear to triakontahexanuclear complexes — Adventures in supramolecular coordination chemistry

Polynuclear coordination complexes result from the interplay between the arrangement of the binding sites of a ligand, and their donor content, and the coordination preferences of the metal ion involved. Rational control of the ligand properties, such as denticity, geometry, and size, can lead to large, and sometimes predictable, polynuclear assemblies. This Alcan Award Lecture highlights our "adventures" with polynucleating ligands over the last 25 years, with examples ranging from simple dinucleating to more exotic high-denticity ligands. Complexes with nuclearities ranging from 2 to 36 have been produced, many of which have novel magnetic, electrochemical, and spectroscopic properties. Self-assembly strategies using relatively simple "polytopic" ligands have been very successful in producing high-nuclearity clusters in high yield. For example, linear "tritopic" ligands produce M9 (M = Mn(II), Fe(II), Fe(III), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), Zn(II)) [3 × 3], flat grid-like molecules, which have quantum dot-like arrays of nine closely spaced metal centers in electronic communication. Some of these grids are discussed in terms of their novel magnetic and electrochemical properties, and also as multistable nanometer-scale platforms for potential molecular device behaviour. Bigger ligands with extended arrays of coordination pockets, and the capacity to self-assemble into much larger grids, are highlighted to illustrate our current and longer term goals of generating polymetallic molecular two-dimensional layers on surfaces.Key words: Alcan Award Lecture, transition metal, polynuclear, structure, magnetism, electrochemistry, surface studies, molecular device.