Programmed Self‐Assembly of Copper( II )‐ L ‐ and ‐ D ‐Arginine Complexes with Aromatic Dicarboxylates to Form Chiral Double‐Helical Structures

The dianion is the key! Complexes of the type [Cu(Arg) 2 ](L)· n H 2 0 (L = aromatic dicarboxylate, n = 5,6) formed by self‐assembly show double‐helical structures in the solid state, which comprise infinite [Cu(Arg) 2 ] 2+ ‐L 2− strands (shown schematically below). In these, the dianions function as bridging ligands, bound through guanidinium–carboxylate pairs, between the complex cations and read the information of handedness coded in the [Cu(Arg) 2 ] 2+ units.