A Self‐Assembling Triple‐Helical Co Complex : Synthesis and Structure

Not a simple tetradentate, but rather a bis(bidentate) coordination is revealed for L (L = bis[1-methyl-2(6-methyl-2-pyridyl)benzoimidizol-5-yl]methane) and is attributed to the inflexibility of its aromatic rings. In its reaction with cobalt(II) perchlorate an orange salt is produced, in which the three ligands wind about the Co–Co axis in a helical fashion. Both Co atoms have an octahedral coordination geometry, in which the octahedron is flattened along the C3axis. The Co2 complex is represented schematically on the right (black, Co; white, coordinated N atoms of L).