The long-awaited synthesis and self-assembly of a small rigid C3-symmetric trilactam

The challenging synthesis of a fused C3-symmetric trilactam (1) was executed in racemic and enantiomerically pure form. The rigidity, symmetry and high density of hydrogen bonding motifs make 1 an attractive candidate for self-assembly study, which revealed different hydrogen bond patterns in the crystals of rac-1-d3 and (+)-(SSS)-1.