Synthesis of a Novel Triptycene-derived Protected Dithiolene Ligand Precursor for Tri-nuclear Mixed Ligand Metal Dithiolene Complexes

Abstract We synthesized a novel triptycene analogue, 3,3',3'',3''',3'''',3'''''-((triptycene-2,3,6,7,14,15-hexayl)hexakis(sulfanediyl))hexapropanenitrile (3), which served as a valuable precursor for the triptycene-derived tris-bidentate bridging dithiolene ligand, triptycene-2,3,6,7,14,15-hexakis(thiolate) (4), following the removal of the cyanoethyl moiety protection group. We determined the molecular and crystal structures of compound 3 and confirmed its capacity to yield compound 4. By reacting 3 with [NiCl2(BPY)] and [PtCl2(BPY)] (BPY: 2,2'-bipyridine) in methanol, we obtained crude samples of [Ni3(4)(BPY)3] and [Pt3(4)(BPY)3], respectively.