A synthetic procedure for the synthesis of two molecular borophosphate cages is described. Heating of ethyl phosphate with phenylboronic or 4-formylboronic acid in toluene gives [6+6] condensation products of the general formula EtOPO3BAr. Crystallographic analyses show that the compounds form cages, which can be described as dimers of 12-membered (EtOPO3BAr)(3) macrocycles. The successful incorporation of aldehyde functions on the cage exterior demonstrates that these borophosphates can be decorated with reactive groups.
François Maréchal, Nils Christian Schüler, Sébastien Cajot
Aleksandra Radenovic, Evgenii Glushkov