A novel pentamanganese(II) cluster produced by a controlled self assembly process; an exact match between the coordination algorithm of the metals and the ligand binding site arrangement

The tetradentate ligand phaap combines a bridging alkoxide oxygen and diazine and pyridine nitrogen donors, with five critically positioned binding sites, and on reaction with Mn(ClO4)2·6H2O undergoes a controlled self assembly to produce a unique trigonal bipyramidal oxygen bridged metal cluster with an exact match between the coordination requirements of the five six-coordinate metals and the donor arrangements of the six coordinated ligands.