Two new asymmetric tripodal tetraamine ligands, 2-((bis(2-aminoethyl)amino)methyl)benzenamine (L2) and 2-(((2- minoethyl)(3aminopropyl)amino)methyl)benzenamine (L3) were synthesized and characterized. [1+1] Macrocyclic Schiff-base complexes containing 1,2-diphenoxyethane head units and a 2-aminobenzyl pendant arm, were synthesized as [MnL4(MeOH)](ClO4(MeOH)](ClO4)2(2), [CdL4(H2O)](NO3)2(3) and [CdL5(H2O)](NO3)(4) from the metal ion templated cyclocondensation reactions of 2-[2-(2-formylphenoxy)ethoxy]benzaldehyde with the (L2)or(L3) tripodal tetraamine ligands. The crystal structure determination of (1) and (4) showed that the complex cations that had formed consisted of pentagonal bipyramidally coordinated Mn(II) and Cd(II) ions, centrally located in a N3O macrocycle, with one 2-aminobenzyl pendant arm. Supporting ab initio HF-MO calculations have been undertaken using the standard 3-21G* and 6-31G basis sets.
