Route to Useful Metallomonomers: Step-Wise Construction of Bimetallic Triangles by Site-Specific Metalation

Three bimetallic triangles were constructed via a step-wise assembly of tailored terpyridine building blocks. Oligomeric trimer 2 was obtained by reacting ligand 1 with Ru(II). Subsequent cyclization of trimer 2 with Zn(II), Cd(II), and Fe(II) resulted in the formation of bimetallic triangles 3, 4, and 5 in high yield, respectively. All triangles were characterized by NMR spectroscopy, ESI and travelling-wave ion mobility-mass spectrometry (MS), as well as gradient MS, which provided insight into their stabilities.