New entry to tetranuclear clusters with tetrathiol ligands anchored to hydrophobic macrocycles in iron–sulphur protein analogues; Fe<sub>4</sub>S<sub>4</sub>{cyclo-(XN[CH<sub>2</sub>]<sub>8</sub>)<sub>4</sub>}<sup>2–</sup>and Fe<sub>4</sub>S<sub>4</sub>{cyclo-(XN[CH<sub>2</sub>]<sub>8</sub>NX–p-C<sub>6</sub>H<sub>4</sub>–p-CH<sub>2</sub>C<sub>6</sub>H<sub>4</sub>)<sub>2</sub>}<sup>2–</sup>(X =p-SC<sub>6</sub>H<sub>4</sub>CO)
Efficient synthetic routes to novel tetrathiol compounds attached to a 36- or a 38-membered ring consisting of a methylene backbone or a cyclophane type macrocycle have been developed which involve a double condensation as the key reaction; a new class of synthetic4Fe–4Sanalogues of iron–sulphurproteins could be introduced using these hydrophobic SH ligands.