Uranyl-Salophen Based Ditopic Receptors for the Recognition of Quaternary Ammonium Halides

Uranyl-salophen complexes (I and II) endowed with aromatic side arms behave as very efficient ditopic receptors towards tetralkylammonium halides as a result of a combination of Lewis acid-base and cation-p interactions. Crystal structures were detd. for (NMe4)[UO2(L)Cl] and (NBu4)[UO2(L)Cl] (L = bis(benzyloxy)salophen) resulting from the complexation of complex I with TMACl and TBACl, respectively.