1,4,7-Trimethyl-1,4,7-triazacyclononane
1,4,7-Trimethyl-1,4,7-triazacyclononane is the aza-crown ether with the formula 3. This colorless liquid is the N-methylated derivative of triazacyclononane, a face-capping tridentate ligand that is popular in coordination chemistry.
Although TACN is known for forming 2:1 "sandwich" complexes with many metal ions, corresponding 2:1 complexes of Me3TACN are only known for Ag+, Na+, and K+. This effect is mainly due to the greater bulk of Me3TACN, which requires ions with a larger ionic radius to accommodate two ligands.
Several related derivatives have been prepared with diverse substituents on nitrogen.