Confinement of halide ions within homologous inverse coordination hosts; modification of halide-ion selectivity.

The structures of a series of spherical host-guest complexes [{MeE(PPh)(3)Li(4)·3thf}(4)(µ(4)-X)](-) (E = Al, [1X](-); E = Ga, [2X](-); E = In, [3X](-)) reveal that changing the halide ions (X = Cl, Br, or I) within their central tetrahedral Li(4) sites has negligible effect on the structural parameters.