H-bonded polymerisation of alternate Delta and Lambda metallohelicates

The neutral CdII complex Cd(HL)(2) (H2L = 2-[(1H-imidazol-2-yl)methyleneamino]phenol) is chiral and it can be considered as a simple metallohelicate, with its corresponding Delta and Lambda enantiomers. In the solid state, its helixes are hierarchically assembled as a linear polymer, via mutual N-H center dot center dot center dot O interactions between each two alternating enantiomers, and which also are p-p stacked, so this polymer is based on a by a dimeric repeat unit {Delta, Lambda-[Cd(HL)(2)](2)}.