Preparation of Resolved Fourfold Symmetric Amphiphilic Helices Using Chiral Metallacrown Building Blocks

The chirality of the ligand determines the nature of the helix: Coordination of a chain of [15]metallacrown-5 complexes based on phenylalanine hydroxamic acid results in an amphiphilic metallohelix with a 41 screw axis. The use of the L isomer of the acid gives the right-handed helix (see left structure) while the D isomer gives the mirror image structure.