Programmed Self‐Assembly of Copper(II)‐L‐ and ‐D‐Arginine Complexes with Aromatic Dicarboxylates to Form Chiral Double‐Helical Structures

The dianion is the key! Complexes of the type [Cu(Arg)2](L)·nH20 (L = aromatic dicarboxylate, n = 5,6) formed by self-assembly show double-helical structures in the solid state, which comprise infinite [Cu(Arg)2]2+-L2− strands (shown schematically below). In these, the dianions function as bridging ligands, bound through guanidinium–carboxylate pairs, between the complex cations and read the information of handedness coded in the [Cu(Arg)2]2+ units.