Template-Controlled Assembly of Ditopic Catechol Phosphines: A Strategy for the Generation of Complexes of Bidentate Phosphines with Different Bite Angles

Synthesis, dynamics and redox properties of eight-coordinate zirconium catecholate complexes

Reaction of the 9,9-dimethylxanthene-bis(imine)-bis(catechol) ligand XbicH4 with half an equivalent of Zr(acac)4 affords the neutral tetracatecholate complex (XbicH2)2Zr, containing four iminium ions hydrogen bonded to the catecholates. The heteroleptic bis(catecholate)-tetraphenylporphyrin complex (TPP)Zr(XbicH2) is formed from reaction of (TPP)Zr(OAc)2 with XbicH4 in the presence of base. Both compounds adopt an eight-coordinate square antiprismatic geometry around the zirconium center. NMR spectra of (TPP)Zr(XbicH2) show that it is fluxional at room temperature, with homoleptic (XbicH2)2Zr showing fluxionality at higher temperatures. Calculations and kinetic isotope effect measurements suggest that the motions involve dissociation of a single catecholate oxygen and subsequent twisting of the seven-coordinate species. The compounds show reversible one-electron oxidations of each of the bound catecholates to bound semiquinones.

Heterobimetallic catechol-phosphine complexes with palladium and a group-13 element: structural flexibility and dynamics

Group-13 metal acetylacetonates [M(acac)3] (M = Al, Ga, In) or Al(OiPr)3 react with a complex [Pd(catphosH)2] that may act as chelating ligand towards a second metal, or with a mixture of catechol phosphine (catphosH2) and [PdCl2(cod)], to give heterometallic complexes featuring either dinuclear M(catphos)2Pd or trinuclear M{(catphos)2Pd}2 motifs. Characterisation of the products by crystallographic and solution NMR studies gives insight into the structural diversity and flexibility of the coordination environments of the group-13 elements and their impact on the stability of the multinuclear complexes. The results indicate that gallium and indium are the most suitable elements for the stabilisation of di- and trinuclear assemblies, respectively. Dynamic NMR spectroscopy allowed to follow the dynamic averaging of the coordination environments of the four distinguishable catechol phosphines in the indium complex [M{(catphos)2Pd}2]H. The results revealed that the isomerisation follows a complicated pathway involving several distinguishable proton transfer steps, and allowed to propose a mechanistic explanation for the observed isomerisation.

Ligand scaffold optimization of a supramolecular hydrogenation catalyst: Analyzing the influence of key structural subunits on reactivity and selectivity

Results are reported for the catalytic asymmetric hydrogenation of two prototypical substrates with a series of more than 150 closely related supramolecular catalysts differing in only their ligand/catalyst scaffold. These modular catalysts are constructed from four subunits and vary widely in their reactivity (no reaction to quantitative yield) and enantioselectivity (racemic to 96% ee). Analysis of the ligand/catalyst scaffold optimization data reveals how each subunit contributes to the effectiveness of the modular supramolecular catalyst. The results suggest that a balance between key elements of rigidity and flexibility is required for the successful catalysts and, moreover, that this balance is required to enable effective fine-tuning via catalyst scaffold optimization.