New Building Blocks for the Noncovalent Assembly of homo- and hetero-Multinuclear Metallodendrimers

Ligands 5 and 8, derived from the coupling of [3,5-bis[(diphenylphosphinyl)methyl]phenyl]oxy groups to bi- and trifunctional spacers, respectively, were cyclometalated with Pd[CH 3 CN] 4 (BF 4 ) 2, cis- [PtCl 2 (PPh 3 ) 2 ], or NiCl 2 ·6H 2 O. The cationic Pd and Pt complexes were converted into overall neutral Pd−Cl and Pt−Cl complexes. The resulting pincer complexes can be used as building blocks for the controlled assembly of both homo - and hetero -multinuclear metallodendrimers. The 31 P NMR spectra of the pincer complexes exhibit different shifts for chloride, H 2 O, or nitrile occupying the fourth coordination site, making the 31 P chemical shift an excellent diagnostic tool for the assembly process.