Liquid-crystalline dendrons carrying either a thiol or disulfide function which display nematic, smectic A, columnar, or chiral nematic phases have been synthesized. Their mesomorphic properties are in agreement with the nature of the mesogenic units and structure of the dendrons. The first-generation poly(aryl ester) dendron containing two cyanobiphenyl mesogenic units was used to functionalize gold nanoparticles. For full coverage, a smectic-like supramolecular organization on the nanometer scale is observed, when the gold nanoparticles are spread onto carbon-coated copper grids. This result indicates that the dendritic ligands reported here act as self-organization promoters.

To bring evidence for or against the hypothesis of catalytic hydrogenation by intact trinuclear arene ruthenium clusters containing an oxo cap, cationic Ru₃O clusters with three different arene ligands (intrinsically chiral tetrahedra) have been synthesized as racemic mixtures. By introduction of a chiral auxiliary substituent at one of the three different arene ligands, the separation of the two diastereomers was possible. The chiral Ru₃O framework was evidenced by X-ray crystallography, by circular dichroism in the UV and IR regions, and by chiral shift reagents in the NMR spectra. The catalytic hydrogenation of the prochiral substrate methyl 2-acetamidoacrylate using a chiral Ru₃O cluster showed no asymmetric induction, suggesting that the catalytically active species is not the intact Ru₃O cluster.