Carboxamidate Ligand Noninnocence in Proton Coupled Electron Transfer

Synthesis, Characterization, and Reactivity of High-Valent Carbene Dicarboxamide-Based Nickel Pincer Complexes

High-valent metal-fluoride complexes are currently being explored for concerted proton-electron transfer (CPET) reactions, the driving force being the high bond dissociation energy of H-F (BDEH-F = 135 kcal/mol) that is formed after the reaction. Ni(III)-fluoride-based complexes on the pyridine dicarboxamide pincer ligand framework have been utilized for CPET reactions toward phenols and hydrocarbons. We have replaced the central pyridine ligand with an N-heterocyclic carbene carbene to probe its effect in both stabilizing the high-valent Ni(III) state and its ability to initiate CPET reactions. We report a monomeric carbene-diamide-based Ni(II)-fluoride pincer complex that was characterized through 1H/19F NMR, mass spectrometry, UV-vis, and X-ray crystallography analysis. Although carbenes and deprotonated carboxamides in the Ni(II)-fluoride complex are expected to stabilize the Ni(III) state upon oxidation, the Ni(III)/Ni(II) redox process occurred at very high potential (0.87 V vs Fc+/Fc, dichloromethane) and was irreversible. Structural studies indicate significant distortion in the imidazolium "NCN" carbene plane of Ni(II)-fluoride caused by the formation of six-membered metallacycles. The high-valent NiIII-fluoride analogue was synthesized by the addition of 1.0 equiv CTAN (ceric tetrabutylammonium nitrate) in dichloromethane at -20 °C which was characterized by UV-vis, mass spectrometry, and EPR spectroscopy. Density functional theory studies indicate that the Ni-carbene bond elongated, while the Ni-F bond shortened upon oxidation to the Ni(III) species. The high-valent Ni(III)-fluoride was found to react with the substituted phenols. Analysis of the KIE and linear free energy relationship correlates well with the CPET nature of the reaction. Preliminary analysis indicates that the CPET is asynchronous and is primarily driven by the E0' of the Ni(III)-fluoride complex.

Evidence for a High-Valent Iron-Fluoride That Mediates Oxidative C(sp3)-H Fluorination

[Fe^II(NCCH₃)(NTB)](OTf)₂ (NTB = tris(2-benzimidazoylmethyl)amine, OTf = trifluoromethanesulfonate) was reacted with difluoro(phenyl)-λ³-iodane (PhIF₂) in the presence of a variety of saturated hydrocarbons, resulting in the oxidative fluorination of the hydrocarbons in moderate-to-good yields. Kinetic and product analysis point towards a hydrogen atom transfer oxidation prior to fluorine radical rebound to form the fluorinated product. The combined evidence supports the formation of a formally Fe^IV(F)₂ oxidant that performs hydrogen atom transfer followed by the formation of a dimeric μ-F-(Fe^III)₂ product that is a plausible fluorine atom transfer rebound reagent. This approach mimics the heme paradigm for hydrocarbon hydroxylation, opening up avenues for oxidative hydrocarbon halogenation.

Reactivity Properties of Mixed- and High-Valent Bis(μ-Hydroxide)-Dinickel Complexes

Despite their potential role in enzymatic systems, there is a dearth of hydroxide-bridged high-valent oxidants. We recently reported the synthesis and characterization of Ni^IINi^III(μ-OH)₂ (2) and Ni₂ ^III(μ-OH)₂ (3) species supported by a dicarboxamidate ligand (N,N'-bis(2,6-dimethyl-phenyl)-2,2-dimethylmalonamide). Herein, we explore the oxidative reactivity of these species using a series of para-substituted 2,6-di-tert-butyl-phenols (4-X-2,6-DTBP, X = -OCH₃, -CH₂CH₃, -CH₃, -C(CH₃)₃, -H, -Br, -CN, and -NO₂) as a mechanistic probe. Interestingly, upon reaction of 3 with the substrates, the formation of a new transient species, 2', was observed. 2' is postulated to be a protic congener of 2. All three species were demonstrated to react with the substituted phenols through a hydrogen atom transfer reaction mechanism, which was elucidated further by analysis of the postreaction mixtures. Critically, 3 was demonstrated to react at far superior rates to 2 and 2', and oxidized substrates more efficiently than any bis-μ-oxo-Ni₂ ^III reported to date. The kinetic superiority of 3 with respect to 2 and 2' was attributed to a stronger bond in the product of oxidation by 3 when compared to those calculated for 2 and 2'.

Rapid Iron(III)-Fluoride-Mediated Hydrogen Atom Transfer

We anticipate high-valent metal-fluoride species will be highly effective hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) oxidants because of the magnitude of the H-F bond (in the product) that drives HAT oxidation. We prepared a dimeric Fe^III (F)-F-Fe^III (F) complex (1) by reacting [Fe^II (NCCH₃ )₂ (TPA)](ClO₄ )₂ (TPA=tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine) with difluoro(phenyl)-λ³ -iodane (difluoroiodobenzene). 1 was a sluggish oxidant, however, it was readily activated by reaction with Lewis or Brønsted acids to yield a monomeric [Fe^III (TPA)(F)(X)]⁺ complex (2) where X=F/OTf. 1 and 2 were characterized using NMR, EPR, UV/Vis, and FT-IR spectroscopies and mass spectrometry. 2 was a remarkably reactive Fe^III reagent for oxidative C-H activation, demonstrating reaction rates for hydrocarbon HAT comparable to the most reactive Fe^III and Fe^IV oxidants.

Phenol Oxidation by a Nickel(III)-Fluoride Complex: Exploring the Influence of the Proton Accepting Ligand in PCET Oxidation

In order to gain insight into the influence of the H⁺ -accepting terminal ligand in high-valent oxidant mediated proton coupled electron transfer (PCET) reactions, the reactivity of a high valent nickel-fluoride complex [Ni^III (F)(L)] (2, L=N,N'-(2,6-dimethylphenyl)-2,6-pyridinecarboxamidate) with substituted phenols was explored. Analysis of kinetic data from these reactions (Evans-Polanyi, Hammett, and Marcus plots, and KIE measurements) and the formed products show that 2 reacted with electron rich phenols through a hydrogen atom transfer (HAT, or concerted PCET) mechanism and with electron poor phenols through a stepwise proton transfer/electron transfer (PT/ET) reaction mechanism. The analogous complexes [Ni^III (Z)(L)] (Z=Cl, OCO₂ H, O₂ CCH₃ , ONO₂ ) reacted with all phenols through a HAT mechanism. We explore the reason for a change in mechanism with the highly basic fluoride ligand in 2. Complex 2 was also found to react one to two orders of magnitude faster than the corresponding analogous [Ni^III (Z)(L)] complexes. This was ascribed to a high bond dissociation free energy value associated with H-F (135 kcal mol^-1 ), which is postulated to be the product formed from PCET oxidation by 2 and is believed to be the driving force for the reaction. Our findings show that high-valent metal-fluoride complexes represent a class of highly reactive PCET oxidants.

Influence of Multisite Metal-Ligand Cooperativity on the Redox Activity of Noninnocent N2S2 Ligands

Metal-ligand cooperativity (MLC) relies on chemically reactive ligands to assist metals with small-molecule binding and activation, and it has facilitated unprecedented examples of catalysis with metal complexes. Despite growing interest in combining ligand-centered chemical and redox reactions for chemical transformations, there are few studies demonstrating how chemically engaging redox active ligands in MLC affects their electrochemical properties when bound to metals. Here we report stepwise changes in the redox activity of model Ru complexes as zero, one, and two BH₃ molecules undergo MLC binding with a triaryl noninnocent N₂S₂ ligand derived from o-phenylenediamine (L1). A similar series of Ru complexes with a diaryl N₂S₂ ligand with ethylene substituted in place of phenylene (L2) is also described to evaluate the influence of the o-phenylenediamine subunit on redox activity and MLC. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) studies and density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that MLC attenuates ligand-centered redox activity in both series of complexes, but electron transfer is still achieved when only one of the two redox-active sites on the ligands is chemically engaged. The results demonstrate how incorporating more than one multifunctional reactive site could be an effective strategy for maintaining redox noninnocence in ligands that are also chemically reactive and competent for MLC.

Structure, Spectroscopy, and Reactivity of a Mononuclear Copper Hydroxide Complex in Three Molecular Oxidation States

Structural, spectroscopic, and reactivity studies are presented for an electron transfer series of copper hydroxide complexes supported by a tridentate redox-active ligand. Single crystal X-ray crystallography shows that the mononuclear [CuOH]¹⁺ core is stabilized via intramolecular H-bonds between the H-donors of the ligand and the hydroxide anion when the ligand is in its trianionic form. This complex undergoes two reversible oxidation processes that produce two metastable "high-valent" CuOH species, which can be generated by addition of stoichiometric amounts of 1e^- oxidants. These CuOH species are characterized by an array of spectroscopic techniques including UV-vis absorption, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), and X-ray absorption spectroscopies (XAS), which together indicate that all redox couples are ligand-localized. The reactivity of the complexes in their higher oxidation states toward substrates with modest O-H bond dissociation energies (e.g., 4-substitued-2,6-di-tert-butylphenols) indicates that these complexes act as 2H⁺/2e^- oxidants, differing from the 1H⁺/1e^- reactivity of well-studied [CuOH]²⁺ systems.

High-Valent d7 NiIII versus d8 CuIII Oxidants in PCET

Oxygenases have been postulated to utilize d⁴ Fe^IV and d⁸ Cu^III oxidants in proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) hydrocarbon oxidation. In order to explore the influence the metal ion and d-electron count can hold over the PCET reactivity, two metastable high-valent metal-oxygen adducts, [Ni^III(OAc)(L)] (1b) and [Cu^III(OAc)(L)] (2b), L = N,N'-(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-2,6-pyridinedicarboxamidate, were prepared from their low-valent precursors [Ni^II(OAc)(L)]^- (1a) and [Cu^II(OAc)(L)]^- (2a). The complexes 1a/b-2a/b were characterized using nuclear magnetic resonance, Fourier transform infrared, electron paramagnetic resonance, X-ray diffraction, and absorption spectroscopies and mass spectrometry. Both complexes were capable of activating substrates through a concerted PCET mechanism (hydrogen atom transfer, HAT, or concerted proton and electron transfer, CPET). The reactivity of 1b and 2b toward a series of para-substituted 2,6-di-tert-butylphenols (p-X-2,6-DTBP; X = OCH₃, C(CH₃)₃, CH₃, H, Br, CN, NO₂) was studied, showing similar rates of reaction for both complexes. In the oxidation of xanthene, the d⁸ Cu^III oxidant displayed a small increase in the rate constant compared to that of the d⁷ Ni^III oxidant. The d⁸ Cu^III oxidant was capable of oxidizing a large family of hydrocarbon substrates with bond dissociation enthalpy (BDE_C-H) values up to 90 kcal/mol. It was previously observed that exchanging the ancillary anionic donor ligand in such complexes resulted in a 20-fold enhancement in the rate constant, an observation that is further enforced by comparison of 1b and 2b to the literature precedents. In contrast, we observed only minor differences in the rate constants upon comparing 1b to 2b. It was thus concluded that in this case the metal ion has a minor impact, while the ancillary donor ligand yields more kinetic control over HAT/CPET oxidation.