Sébastien Bivaud

A metal-directed self-assembled electroactive cage with bis(pyrrolo)tetrathiafulvalene (BPTTF) side walls

A straightforward synthesis of a bis(pyrrolo)tetrathiafulvalene (BPTTF)-based tetratopic ligand bearing four pyridyl units is described. The first example of a TTF-based self-assembled cage has been produced from this redox-active ligand through metal-directed synthesis with a cis-coordinated square-planar Pt(II) complex. The resulting cage corresponds to a trigonal-prismatic structure, as shown by X-ray crystallography. A UV-vis titration indicated that the electron-rich cavity can be used to incorporate one molecule of tetrafluorotetracyano-p-quinodimethane (TCNQF(4)).

A BPTTF-based self-assembled electron-donating triangle capable of C60 binding

A kinetically stable self-assembled redox-active triangle is isolated. The resulting electron-donating cavity, which incorporates three BPTTF units, exhibits a remarkable binding ability for electron-deficient C(60), supported by a favorable combination of structural and electronic features.

A Self-Assembled Electro-Active M8L4 Cage Based on Tetrathiafulvalene Ligands

Two self-assembled redox-active cages are presented. They are obtained by coordination-driven self-assembly of a tetra-pyridile tetrathiafulvalene ligand with cis-M(dppf)(OTf)2 (M = Pd or Pt; dppf = 1,1′-bis(diphenylphosphino)ferrocene; OTf = trifluoromethane-sulfonate) complexes. Both species are fully characterized and are constituted of 12 electro-active subunits that can be reversibly oxidized.

Tuning the size of a redox-active tetrathiafulvalene-based self-assembled ring

Summary The synthesis of a new Pd coordination-driven self-assembled ring M6L3 constructed from a concave tetrapyridyl π-extended tetrathiafulvalene ligand (exTTF) is described. The same ligand is also able to self-assemble in a M4L2 mode as previously described. Herein, we demonstrate that the bulkiness of the ancillary groups in the Pd complex allows for modulating the size and the shape of the resulting discrete self-assembly, which therefore incorporate two (M4L2) or three (M6L3) electroactive exTTF sidewalls.