Building cyclotriveratrylene host molecules into network structures

Cyclotriveratrylene is a rigid bowl-shaped host molecule that can be used as a 3-connecting crystal engineering tecton by virtue of its tris-dimethoxy arrangement which may act as hydrogen bond acceptors,or chelating ligand sites. Network structures of unusual topology have resulted, and a number of common structural types are emerging. The tetragonal structure of [Fe(H2O)(6)]{(CH3CN)(CTV)}(4)(H2O)(4)[Co(C2B9H11)(2)](2) has been determined and features an unusual 3,12-connected 3D hydrogen bonded network structure, with the [Fe(H2O)(6)](2+) complex cation disordering to achieve the required geometry for the network. The structure of [Ag(CTV)(2)(H2O)(3)(CH3CN)(2)](CB11H12) has been determined and likewise conforms to a key structural type, and shows novel coordination of CTV to Ag+ centres.