How does chiral self-sorting take place in the formation of homochiral Pd 6 L 8 capsules consisting of cyclotriveratrylene-based chiral tritopic ligands?

The chiral self-sorting process during the self-assembly of homochiral Pd6 L8 capsules from cyclotriveratrylene (CTV)-based chiral tritopic ligands (L) and (Py*: 3-chloropyridine) was investigated by an NMR-based approach (QASAP: quantitative analysis of the self-assembly process). From the beginning to the formation of the immature capsules ( IC s), enantiomeric ligands are distributed in the intermediates in a non-self-sorting manner, which leads to the isomers of heterochiral IC s over 99% yield. The mismatch of the chirality in the heterochiral IC s prevents intramolecular ligand exchanges in IC s to form the heterochiral capsules. The correction of the chirality in the heterochiral IC s (chiral self-sorting) takes place very slowly to finally lead to the homochiral capsules. The reason why the chiral self-sorting took place in the late stage of the self-assembly (after the formation of the heterochiral IC s) would be due to the relatively high flexibility of the CTV-based ligand.