Synthesis and Structure of the Helicate (M)-(-)-[Pt,{(AE,.AE)-tetraphos}₂](CF₃SO₃)₄ · 4.5 H₂O

The complex (M)-(-)-[Pt₂{(R,R)-tetraphos}₂](CF₃SO₃)₄ · 4.5 H₂O, where tetraphos = 1,1,4,7, 10,10-hexaphenyl-1,4,7,10-tetraphosphadecane, has been isolated and structurally characterized. The compound crystallizes in the space group C2 with two crystallographically different, but very similar, cations in the structure, each of which contains a 2-fold axis coincident with the crystallographic 2-fold axis. Each independent cation of the salt consists of a double-stranded, diplatinum(II) helicate that completes a ca. one-eighth turn of a double a-helix in the M direction, as evidenced by the angle between the two, non-orthogonal PtP4 square planes in each of the independent molecules. A feature of the structures is the 10-membered ring containing the two platinum atoms and the four chiral phosphorus stereocentres of R configuration; this ring has a distorted twist-boat-chair-boat conformation of λ helicity, which is responsible for the M twist of the helicate.