A Tetranuclear Ni(II)-Cubane Cluster Molecule Build by Four µ3-O-Methanolate (MeO) Ligands, Externally Cohesive by Four Unprecedented Bridging µ2-N7,O6-Acyclovirate (acv-H) Anions

Metal ion interactions with nuclei acids and their constituents represent a multi-faceted and growing research field. This contribution deals with molecular recognition between synthetic purine 17 nucleosides and first-row transition metal complexes, with O- and/or N-amino chelators which are able to 18 engage in intra-molecular N-H···(N or O) and O-H···(N or O) interligand interactions. Crystals of these complexes can also display inter-molecular aromatic π-stacking and/or other non-conventional interactions. In this manuscript, we used 2-(2-aminoethoxy)ethanol (2aee) as a potential N,O(e),O(ol)-chelator for nickel(II). However, unexpectedly, the reaction between NiCl2, acyclovir (acv), and 2aee in methanol afforded parallelepiped apple-green crystals of [Ni(acv-H)(MeO)(H2O)]4·8H2O, (1) a tetranuclear molecule with an equimolar Ni(II):µ3-methanolate(1-):µ2-N7,O6-acyclovirate(1-) (acv-H) ratio. The µ2-N7,O6-(acv-H) metal-binding pattern (MBP) is unprecedented in terms of both its anionic and bridging roles. The single-crystal X-ray diffraction structure as well as thermogravimetric analysis and the (FT-IR +Vis-UV) spectra of 1 are reported. Theoretical density functional theory (DFT) calculations are used to analyse the antiparallel π-stacking interactions that govern the formation of self-assembled dimers in the solid state.