Colloids Produced by Simple Self-Assembly of Inorganic Tennis Balls and Nonrigid Polypyridyl Ligands

Inorganic Tennis Balls (ITBs) are supramolecules produced by self-assembly of dithioylidenemalonato-platinum(II) complexes and simple metal salts. The copper-based ITB, [[[(dach)Pt(dteym)]2Cu]2]·(OTf)4 (where dach = trans(±)1,2-diaminocyclohexane and dteym = 1,3-dithiepane-2ylidenemalonate) has been reported to possess two metalcentered hydrophobic pockets in its surface and generate an 1-D coordination polymer by the self-assembly with 4,4'bipyridine (BPY). In this context, we were interested in the self assembly of ITBs and nonrigid ligands, bis-(4-pyridylmethyl)-amine (BPMA) and tris-(4-pyridylmethyl)-amine (TPMA).