Chiral 12-metallacrown-4 complexes can now be obtained in high yield using resolved beta-phenylalanine hydroxamic acids as organic scaffolding. These new copper(II) compounds bear a striking resemblance based on size and shape to Cu(II) tetraphenylporphyrin. This suggests that metallacrowns may be useful alternatives to metalloporphyrins in future applications which require high metal densities and well-defined chiral centers.