Self-assembly of square molecular boxes containing dirhodium(II,II) units

Dirhodium(II,II) based square molecular boxes were easily obtained by reaction of [Rh-2(form)(2)(CF3COO)(2)(H2O)(2)] (form = N,N'-di-p-tolylformamidinate) with both linear (terephthalate and oxalate) and angular [5,10-diphenyl-15,20-bis(4-carboxyphenyl)porphyrin] dicarboxylate dianions; Liquid secondary ionization mass spectrometry (LSI MS) was used to establish the nuclearity of the new macrocycles. Their electrochemical properties were also investigated.