Supramolecular Structures by Recognition and Self-Assembly of Complementary Partners: An Unprecedented Ionic Hydrogen Bonded Triple-Stranded Helicate

A strongly hydrogen-bonded ionic triple-stranded helicate of controlled helical sense, unprecedented in the family of synthetic organic salts, has been obtained by molecular recognition and self-assembly in water of the correctly matched pair of enantiomers of trans-1,2-diaminocyclohexane and trans-cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylic acid. The supramolecular structure is held together by a helical shaped hydrogen-bonding network, constituting the tubular core of the assembly, whose helical sense is opposite to that of the trihelicate itself