A Domino Fusion of an Organic Ligand Depended on Metal-Induced and Oxygen Insertion, Unraveled by Crystallography, Mass Spectrometry, and DFT Calculations

Mn(II) Promoted Divergent-Convergent Domino Reaction Giving Dinuclear Tetrasubstituted Pyrrole Complex

Domino reaction of benzo[d]thiazole-2-methylamine (S1) has been developed in the presence of MnCl2 ⋅ 4H2O, leading to tetrasubstituted pyrrole coordinated dinuclear Mn(II) complex 1 ([MnClP]2, P-=2,3,4,5-tetrakis(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)pyrrol-1-ide). The reaction process has been studied by assigning a series of intermediates based on time-dependent mass spectrometry, control experiments, crystallography, and density functional theory (DFT) theoretical calculation. A plausible mechanism involving an unprecedented divergent-convergent domino sequence has been proposed. Compound S1 could be activated by MnCl2 ⋅ 4H2O via coordination, which divergently produces two intermediates imine II (1-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)-N-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-ylmethyl)methanimine) and alkene C (1,2-bis(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)ethene) through oxidative self-condensation and free radical coupling followed by elimination, respectively. They could then react with each other convergently via formal [3+2] cycloaddition to give deprotonated tetrasubstituted pyrrole coordinated intermediate [MnClP] after aromatization. Dimerization of [MnClP] produces the final product 1. Three C-C bonds and one C-N bond are formed through this six-step domino sequence. The corresponding organic skeleton (HP: 2,2',2'',2'''-(1H-pyrrole-2,3,4,5-tetrayl)tetrakis(benzo[d]thiazole)) has been obtained from 1 and shows a higher fluorescent quantum yield (52 %) than the reported 3,4-diphenyl substituted analogue 2,2'-(3,4-diphenyl-1H-pyrrole-2,5-diyl)bis(benzo[d]thiazole) (DPB) (42 %).