Supramolecular coordination compounds with chiral pyridine and polypyridine ligands derived from terpenes

This review summarizes the principles and the results in a special field of metallosupramolecular architectures. It deals with the stereochemical aspects of chiral assemblages that are formed using chiral derivatives of pyridine and polypyridine ligands. The modularity of the ligands that are discussed results in a variety of different structures that point in most cases to a high diastereoselectivity in the self-assembling process. Some aspects of solid state properties of such metallosupramolecular materials are discussed. Finally, the possibility of the stereoselective formation of topologically chiral organic molecules via metallosupramolecular architectures is presented. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.