Nanoscale metal coordination macrocycles fabricated by using "dimeric" dipyrrins.

Covalently linked dipyrrin (dipyrromethene) dimers have afforded nanoscale [2+2]-type neutral coordination macrocycles with a diagonal of about 1.6 nm. Two moieties of the achiral dipyrrin-Zn(II) complex yield the chiral coordination macrocycles as minor species, as well as major meso stereoisomers by the covalent linkages. Tetrahedral Zn(II) coordination by using acyclic ligands enables the dipyrrin-metal complex units to readily rotate and pass through the cavity of the nanorings in order to reveal the transitions between the chiral and achiral isomers.