Active versus passive substituent participation in the auxiliary-mediated asymmetric synthesis of an octahedral metal complex

cis-Locked Ru(II)-DMSO Precursors for the Microwave-Assisted Synthesis of Bis-Heteroleptic Polypyridyl Compounds

We describe a synthetic strategy for the preparation of bis-heteroleptic polypyridyl Ru(II) complexes of the type [Ru(L1)₂(L2)]²⁺ (L1 and L2 = diimine ligands) from well-defined Ru(II) precursors. For this purpose, a series of six neutral, anionic, and cationic cis-locked Ru(II)-DMSO complexes (2–7) of the general formula [Y] fac-[RuX(DMSO–S)₃(O–O)]ⁿ (where O–O is a symmetrical chelating anion: oxalate (ox), malonate (mal), acetylacetonate (acac); X = DMSO–O or Cl^–; n = −1/0/+1 depending on the nature and charge of X and O–O; when present, Y = K⁺ or PF₆^–) were efficiently prepared from the well-known cis-[RuCl₂(DMSO)₄] (1). When treated with diimine chelating ligands (L1 = bpy, phen, dpphen), the compounds 2–7 afforded the target [Ru(L1)₂(O–O)]^0/+ complex together with the undesired (and unexpected) [Ru(L1)₃]²⁺ species. Nevertheless, we found that the formation of [Ru(L1)₃]²⁺can be minimized by carefully adjusting the reaction conditions: in particular, high selectivity toward [Ru(L1)₂(O–O)]^0/+ and almost complete conversion of the precursor was obtained within minutes, also on a 100–200 mg scale, when the reactions were performed in absolute ethanol at 150 °C in a microwave reactor. Depending on the nature of L1 and concentration, with the oxalate and malonate precursors, the neutral product [Ru(L1)₂(O–O)] can precipitate spontaneously from the final mixture, in pure form and acceptable-to-good yields. When spontaneous precipitation of the disubstituted product does not occur, purification from [Ru(L1)₃]²⁺ can be rather easily accomplished by column chromatography or solvent extraction. By comparison, under the same conditions, compound 1 is much less selective, thus demonstrating that locking the geometry of the precursor through the introduction of O–O in the coordination sphere of Ru is a valid strategic approach. By virtue of its proton-sensitive nature, facile and quantitative replacement of O–O in [Ru(L1)₂(O–O)]^0/+ by L2, selectively affording [Ru(L1)₂(L2)]²⁺, was accomplished in refluxing ethanol in the presence of a slight excess of trifluoroacetic acid or HPF₆.

cis-Locked Ru(II)-DMSO complexes bearing a symmetrical chelating anion, such as [K] fac-[RuCl(DMSO−S)₃(η²-mal)] (2), are suitable precursors for the two-step selective preparation of bis-heteroleptic polypyridyl compounds of the type [Ru(L1)₂(L2)]²⁺ (L1 and L2 = diimine ligands).

Chiral-auxiliary-mediated asymmetric synthesis of ruthenium polypyridyl complexes

An octahedral metal complex with 6 different monodentate ligands can form 15 diastereomers as pairs of enantiomers. As a result, the elaborate stereochemistry of octahedral coordination geometries provides tremendous opportunities in the fields of catalysis, the materials sciences, and the life sciences. The demand for enantiomerically pure coordination complexes for tasks related to the selective molecular recognition of biomacromolecules led us to develop synthetic methods to control the absolute stereochemistry at octahedral metal centers. A few years ago our laboratory therefore embarked on a project exploring new and general synthetic strategies for the asymmetric synthesis of inert octahedral transition metal complexes. We initially used the example of thermally inert ruthenium polypyridyl complexes and developed a family of chiral bidentate ligands, including salicyloxazolines, (mercaptophenyl)oxazolines, sulfinylphenols, N-acetylsulfinamides, a phosphinohydroxybinaphthyl, and even the amino acid proline to serve as chiral auxiliaries for asymmetric coordination chemistry. All these chiral auxiliaries strongly coordinate to ruthenium(II) in a bidentate, deprotonated fashion, allowing them to control the absolute metal-centered configuration in the course of subsequent ligand exchange reactions. Finally, we can remove them from the metal without any loss of chiral information and without leaving a chemical trace. A key feature of these chiral auxiliary ligands is their switchable binding strength. A chelate effect ensures that the chiral ligands coordinate very tightly to the metal center, placing their carbon-based, sulfur-based, or axial chirality in a well-defined position close to the metal center to efficiently establish the absolute metal-centered configuration. At the same time a coordinating phenolate, carboximidate, carboxylate, or thiophenolate moiety makes the coordination reversible by weakening the binding strength through protonation or methylation. Following this strategy, we synthesized a large number of homoleptic, bis-heteroleptic, and tris-heteroleptic ruthenium polypyridyl complexes in an asymmetric fashion with enantiomeric ratios that routinely reached or exceeded 96:4. Our approach should serve as a blueprint for the asymmetric synthesis of different classes of ruthenium complexes and chiral coordination complexes of other metals.