Structural Insight into Guest Binding Sites in a Porous Homochiral Metal-Organic Material.

An enantiomeric pair of chiral metal–organic materials (CMOMs) based upon mandelate (man) and 4,4′-bipyridine (bpy) ligands, [Co2(S-man)2(bpy)3](NO3)2·guest (1S·guest) and [Co2(R-man)2(bpy)3](NO3)2·guest (1R·guest), have been prepared. The cationic frameworks exhibit one-dimensional chiral channels with dimensions of 8.0 A × 8.0 A. The pore chemistry is such that chiral surfaces lined with nitrate anions and phenyl groups create multiple binding sites for guest and/or solvent molecules. The performance of 1S and 1R with respect to resolution of racemic mixtures of 1-phenyl-1-propanol (PP) was studied by varying time, temperature, and the use of additives. Selectivity toward PP was determined by chiral HPLC with ee values of up to 60%. The binding sites and host–guest interactions were investigated through single-crystal X-ray structural analyses of guest-exchanged 1S and 1R. Crystallographically observed structural changes (e.g., the absolute configurations of the three PP binding sites switch from R, R, ...