Cyclometallated imine complexes with oxygen-functionalised side-chains: Effect of the nature of the functional group, chain length and charge on coordination of the oxygen

Understanding electronic effects on carboxylate-assisted C-H activation at ruthenium: the importance of kinetic and thermodynamic control

Meta- and para-substituted 1-phenylpyrazoles (R-phpyz-H) react with [RuCl2(p-cymene)]2 in the presence of NaOAc to form cyclometallated complexes [M(R-phpyz)Cl(p-cymene)] (where R = NMe2, OMe, Me, H, F, CF3 and NO2). Experimental and DFT studies indicate that product formation can be reversible or irreversible depending on the substituents and the reaction conditions. Competition experiments show that the kinetic selectivity favours electron-donating substituents and correlate well with the Hammett parameter, giving a negative slope (ρ = -2.4) that is consistent with a cationic transition state. However, surprisingly, the thermodynamic selectivity is completely opposite, with substrates featuring electron-withdrawing groups being favoured. These trends are reproduced with DFT calculations that locate a rate-limiting transition state dominated by Ru-O bond dissociation and minimal C-H bond elongation. Detailed computational analysis of these transition states shows that C-H activation proceeds by an AMLA/CMD mechanism through a synergic combination of a C-H→Ru agostic interaction and C-HO H-bonding. NBO calculations also highlight a syndetic bonding term, and the relative weights of these three components vary in a complementary fashion depending on the nature of the substituent. With meta-substituted ligands H/D exchange experiments signal kinetically accessible ortho-C-H activation when R = NMe2, OMe and Me. This is also modelled computationally and the calculations highlight the kinetic relevance of the HOAc/Cl exchange that occurs post C-H bond cleavage, in particular with the bulkier NMe2 and Me substituents. Our study highlights that the experimental substituent effects are dependent on the reaction conditions and so using such studies to assign the mechanism of C-H activation in either stoichiometric or catalytic reactions may be misleading.

Synthesis and coordination chemistry of tri-substituted benzamidrazones

A series of N(1),N(1),N(3)-tri-substituted benzamidrazones of the general formula [PhC(NHR)=NNMe(2)] (R = Me, n-Pr, i-Pr, n-Bu, Bn, Ph; 1a-f) was synthesized via condensation of 1,1-dimethylhydrazine with the corresponding imidoyl chloride, [PhC(Cl)=NR]. Multinuclear NMR data, and zero-point energy DFT calculations conducted with the B3LYP functional and 6-31G+(d,p) basis set, suggest that these compounds exist as a single tautomer in solution; possessing a weak intramolecular hydrogen bond and a structure dominated by the localised resonance structure ArC(NHR)=N-NMe(2). An X-ray crystallographic study upon PhC(NHPh)=NNMe(2) (1f) demonstrated that this compound adopts an identical tautomer in the solid state. Reactions of [PhC(NHMe)=NNMe(2)] (1a) with [LMCl(2)](2) (M = Ru, L = cymene; M = Rh, Ir, L = Cp*) results in the stoichiometric formation of products of the formula [LM{PhC(=NMe)NHNMe(2)}Cl](+)Cl(-) (2a-c) in which the amidrazone chelates the metal in a κ(2)-N(1),N(3)-coordination mode. Formation of this five-membered chelate occurs with a concomitant tautomerisation of the amidrazone ligand to an alternative tautomer, i.e. [PhC(=NMe)NHNMe(2)], the latter tautomer is expected to be readily energetically accessible based upon the aforementioned DFT calculations. This series of salts may be deprotonated with lithium hexamethyldisilazide to form the corresponding charge neutral complexes [LM{PhC(NMe)=NNMe(2)}] (3a-c). In contrast, the reaction of N(1),N(1),N(3)-tri-substituted benzamidrazones with [(cymene)RuCl(2)](2) in the presence of NaOAc yielded a mixture of cyclometallation (C-H activation) and amidrazone chelation/deprotonation (N-H activation) products. Reaction of 1a yielded an inseparable mixture of products, whilst the reaction of 1c resulted in formation of the cyclometallated product [LM{C(6)H(5)C(=N(i)Pr)NHNMe(2)}] (L = cymene, M = Ru; 4a) in a modest 62% yield. This latter complex could be isolated as a crystalline orange solid, full characterisation including single crystal X-ray diffraction demonstrated that the amidrazone coordinates in a κ(2)-N(2),C-coordination mode.