Synthesis and Structural Characterization of Macrocyclic Half-Sandwich Rhodium(III) and Iridium(III) Complexes Bearing Bipyridyl Derivatives and Terephthalate

No Switching Cooperativity between Coordinated Azo Ligands on Complexes Having {MII(phosphane-κ2P)}2+ (M = Pd, Pt) Scaffolds

A series of square-planar palladium and platinum compounds with cis-blocking phosphanes and terminal azobenzene ligands [M(dppp)(azo)2](OTf)2 (azo = CN(C6H4)-N═N-(C6H4)CN (iso-cyano), CN(C6H4)-N═N-(C6H5) (iso-Ph)) and [{M2(tpbz)}(azo)4](OTf)4 (azo = CN(C6H4)-N═N-(C6H5) (iso-Ph)) have been synthesized and fully characterized. Similarly to the uncoordinated ligands, the new coordination compounds have shown to be photochemically active with respect to their trans-to-cis isomerization process. Their cis-to-trans back spontaneous reaction have been studied as a function of solvent, temperature and pressure and the corresponding activation parameters determined in order to investigate the mechanism of these transformations. The results obtained are indicative of the operation of a rotational mechanism with no cooperativity between the azo ligands attached to the same metal. Density functional theory calculations have been carried out in order to estimate the relative energies of the different photoisomers for the theoretical interpretation of the experimental data.

Iron complexes of bridging azo ligands in aqueous solution: changes in the thermal switching mechanism on coordination and oxidation state of metal centres

Three azobenzenes CN(C₆H₄)-NN-(C₅H₄N) (py-iso), CN(C₆H₄)-NN-(C₆H₄)CN (cyano-iso) and CN(C₆H₄)-NN-(C₆H₄)NC (iso-iso) with good coordinating groups (pyridine, phenylcyano or phenylisocyano) at the ends of the diazenyl unit have been synthesized and fully characterised. These compounds have been used as ligands in the synthesis of water-soluble metallic species by coordination to {Fe^II(CN)₅^3-} units, either in one or two of the anchoring groups of the derivatives. Both the azo derivatives and their complexes are photochemically active with respect to their trans-to-cis isomerisation process. Their cis-to-trans reverse thermal reaction has been thoroughly studied as a function of the donor groups, solvent, temperature and pressure, in order to gain insight into the rotation or inversion mechanisms involved in the process. A comparison of the isomerisation mechanism between the iron complexes and the corresponding free ligands revealed an interesting fine tuning of the process on coordination of the {Fe^II(CN)₅^3-} moieties, which may even produce, in some cases, non-photoswitchable species containing typically photoactive units.

Modular synthesis of antimalarial quinoline-based PGM metallarectangles

A new ditopic, quinoline-based ligand L (7-chloro-4-(pyridin-4-yl)quinoline) was synthesized via a Suzuki cross-coupling reaction. The ligand was utilized to synthesize the corresponding half-sandwich iridium(III) and ruthenium(II) binuclear complexes (1c and 1d) and the subsequent metallarectangles (2c, 2d, 3c, and 3d), via [2 + 2] coordination-driven self-assembly. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction confirmed the proposed molecular structure of the binuclear complex [{IrCl₂(Cp*)}₂(μ-L)] (1c) and DFT calculations were used to predict the optimized geometry of the rectangular nature of [{Ir(μ-Cl)(Cp*)}₄(μ-L)₂](CF₃SO₃)₄ (2c). All of the metallarectangles were isolated as their triflate salts and characterized using various spectroscopic (¹H, ¹³C{¹H}, DOSY NMR, and IR spectroscopy) and analytical techniques (ESI-MS). The synthesized compounds were screened against the NF54 chloroquine-sensitive (CQS) and K1 chloroquine-resistant (CQR) strains of Plasmodium falciparum. Incorporation of the ubiquitous quinoline core and metal complexation significantly enhanced the in vitro biological activity, with an increase in the nuclearity correlating with an increase in the resultant antiplasmodial activity. This was observed across both parasitic strains, alluding to the potential of supramolecular metallarectangles to act as antiplasmodial agents. Inhibition of haemozoin formation was considered a potential mechanism of action and selected metallarectangles exhibit β-haematin inhibition activity with near comparable activity to chloroquine.

Syntheses, Structures, and Solution Studies of Multicomponent Macrocycles and Cages Based on Versatile Ligands

Different types of multinuclear half-sandwich rhodium macrocycles and cages were designed and synthesized by using two similar multifunctional hydroxamate ligands (pyrazine-2-hydroxamic acid (NaHL¹ ) and 4,4'-bipyridine-2-hydroxamic acid (KHL² )) featuring one monodentate site and two pairs of chelating sites. The Rh^III -Pd^II heterometallic macrocycles were constructed by using the semi-open palladium(II) source [Pd(en)Cl₂ ] with two free acceptor sites. However, only one kind of macrocycle was found when the shorter ligand L¹ was used, while in for the larger ligand, various spectroscopic techniques demonstrated the coexistence of hexanuclear and octanuclear macrocycles in solution and the proportions of both components depended on concentration and temperature. The palladium salt Pd(NO₃ )₂ , as a source of "naked" Pd²⁺ , was introduced to assemble the cuboid-shaped cage composed of two types of metal ions and three types of organic ligands. In addition, two silver(I)-containing mixed-metal complexes bridged by pyrazine were obtained, in which two forms of decanuclear complex with C_2v and C_2h point symmetry cocrystallized-one is a polymeric structure and the other is a discrete cage. However, the third form, with D₂ point symmetry, was found in the larger cage.

Alkyl group-directed assembly of coordination polymers based on bis-(4-imidazol-1-yl-phenyl)-amine and their photocatalytic properties

Four new coordination polymers have been solvothermally synthesized to explore their diverse networks and photocatalytic properties.

Post-Synthetic Shaping of Porosity and Crystal Structure of Ln-Bipy-MOFs by Thermal Treatment

The reaction of anhydrous lanthanide chlorides together with 4,4′-bipyridine yields the MOFs ∞2[Ln₂Cl₆(bipy)₃]·2bipy, with Ln = Pr − Yb, bipy = 4,4′-bipyridine, and ∞3[La₂Cl₆(bipy)₅]·4bipy. Post-synthetic thermal treatment in combination with different vacuum conditions was successfully used to shape the porosity of the MOFs. In addition to the MOFs microporosity, a tuneable mesoporosity can be implemented depending on the treatment conditions as a surface morphological modification. Furthermore, thermal treatment without vacuum results in several identifiable crystalline high-temperature phases. Instead of collapse of the frameworks upon heating, further aggregation under release of bipy is observed. ∞3[LaCl₃(bipy)] and ∞2[Ln₃Cl₉(bipy)₃], with Ln = La, Pr, Sm, and ∞1[Ho₂Cl₆(bipy)₂] were identified and characterized, which can also exhibit luminescence. Besides being released upon heating, the linker 4,4′-bipyridine can undergo activation of C-C bonding in ortho-position leading to the in-situ formation of 4,4′:2′,2′′:4′′,4′′′-quaterpyridine (qtpy). qtpy can thereby function as linker itself, as shown for the formation of the network ∞2[Gd₂Cl₆(qtpy)₂(bipy)₂]·bipy. Altogether, the manuscript elaborates the influence of thermal treatment beyond the usual activation procedures reported for MOFs.

Half-sandwich iridium- and rhodium-based organometallic architectures: rational design, synthesis, characterization, and applications

CONSPECTUS: Over the last two decades, researchers have focused on the design and synthesis of supramolecular coordination complexes, which contain discrete functional structures with particular shapes and sizes, and are similar to classic metal-organic frameworks. Chemists can regulate many of these systems by judiciously choosing the metal centers and their adjoining ligands. These resulting complexes have unusual properties and therefore many applications, including molecular recognition, supramolecular catalysis, and some applications as nanomaterials. In addition, researchers have extensively developed synthetic methodologies for the construction of discrete self-assemblies. One of the most important challenges for scientists in this area is to be able to synthesize target structures that can be controlled in both length and width. For this reason, it is important that we understand the factors leading to special shapes and sizes of such architectures, especially how starting building blocks and functional ligands affect the final conformations and cavity sizes of the resulting assemblies. Towards this goal, we have developed a wide range of different organometallic architectures by rationally designing metal-containing precursors and organic ligands. In this Account, we present our recent work, focusing on half-sandwich iridium- and rhodium-based organometallic assemblies that we obtained through rational design. We discuss their synthesis, structures, and applications for the encapsulation of guests and enzyme-mimicking catalysis. We first describe a series of self-assembled organometallic metallarectangles and metallacages, which we constructed from preorganized dinuclear half-sandwich molecular clips and suitable pyridyl ligands. We extended this strategy to tune the size of the obtained rectangles, creating large cavities by introduction of larger molecular clips. The cavity was found to exhibit selective and reversible CH2Cl2 adsorption properties while retaining single crystallinity. By using suitable molecular clips, we found we could use a number of metallacycles as organometallic templates to direct photochemical [2 + 2] cycloaddition reactions, even in the solid state. Due to their chemical stability and potential applications in catalytic reactions, researchers are giving significant attention to complexes with cyclometalated backbones. We also highlight our efforts to develop efficient approaches to utilize cyclometalated building blocks for the formation of organometallic assemblies. By incorporation of imine ligands or benzoic acids, bipyridine linking subunits, and half-sandwich iridium or rhodium fragments, we built up a series of cationic and neutral metallacycles through cyclometalation-driven self-assembly. In addition, we have developed an efficient route to carborane-based metallacycles, involving the exploitation of metal-induced B-H activation. The method can provide prism-like metallacages, which are efficient hosts for the recognition of planar aromatic guests. This effort provides an incentive to generate new building blocks for the construction of organometallic assemblies. Taken together, our results may lead to a promising future for the design of complicated enzyme-mimetic-catalyzed systems.

Crystal engineering of topochemical solid state reactions

Solid state reactions offer a unique opportunity for synthesizing complex molecules with amazing regio- and stereo-specificity otherwise difficult to synthesize by conventional organic synthetic methodologies. In particular, the solid state [2 + 2] reaction is a well studied reaction in terms of a crystal engineering perspective. The main challenge in performing solid state reactions is bringing the molecules into reactive orientations such that the reactive groups are within a certain proximal distance. The out surge in organic and inorganic crystal engineering studies offers several strategies for bringing the molecules together in the crystal lattice. These strategies include from weak interactions (halogen bonds, halogen···halogen, π···π, cation···π) to strong hydrogen bonds (O-H···O, N-H···O, O-H···N and N-H···N) to coordination complexes/polymers. To date many studies are available which use such strategies for conducting single, double, triple or multiple [2 + 2] reactions, [4 + 4] reactions, Diels-Alder reactions and polymerization reactions of acetylene molecules. Some of the crystal engineering strategies include the use of external templates which can be removed after the reaction and some of the other strategies deals with the modification of reactant molecules. In this review, the current status of various strategies will be outlined with respect to the nature of the interactions involved.

Ruthenium-oxygen coordination-driven self-assembly of a Ru(II)8 incomplete prism: synthesis, structure, and shape-selective molecular recognition study

Coordination-driven self-assembly of 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate (tma; 1) and oxalato-bridged p-cymeneruthenium(II) building block [Ru(2)(μ-η(4)-C(2)O(4))(MeOH)(2)(η(6)-p-cymene)(2)](O(3)SCF(3))(2) (2) affords an unusual octanuclear incomplete prism [Ru(8)(η(6)-p-cymene)(8)(tma)(2)(μ-η(4)-C(2)O(4))(2)(OMe)(4)](O(3)SCF(3))(2) (3), which exhibits a remarkable shape-selective binding affinity for neutral phenolic compounds via hydrogen-bonding interactions (p-cymene = p-(i)PrC(6)H(4)Me). Such a binding was confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis using 1,3,5-trihydroxybenzene as an analyte.

Synthesis and characterization of molecular rectangles of half-sandwich p-cymene ruthenium complexes bearing oxamidato ligands

A series of binuclear half-sandwich p-cymene ruthenium complexes bearing oxamidato ligands [(p-cymene)(2)Ru(2)(mu-N,N'-bis(aryl)oxamidato)Cl(2)] (1-3) was synthesized by the reactions of the lithium salts of oxamide with [(p-cymene)RuCl(2)](2), respectively. Treatment of the binuclear complexes (1-3) with bidentate ligands such as 4,4'-bipyridine (4,4'-bpy) and trans-1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethylene (bpe) in the presence of AgOTf (OTf = CF(3)SO(3)) gave the corresponding tetranuclear complexes generally formulated as [(p-cymene)(4)Ru(4)(mu-N,N'- bis(aryl)oxamidato)(2)(mu-4,4'-bpy)(2)](OTf)(4) (4a-c) and [(p-cymene)(4)Ru(4)(mu-N,N'-bis(aryl)oxamidato)(2)(mu-bpe)(2)](OTf)(4) (5a-c) in high yields. All compounds (1-3, 4a-5c) have been characterized by NMR and IR spectra and elemental analyses. The molecular structures of , and have been determined by single-crystal X-ray analyses. The molecular structures of tetranuclear complexes and showed that two binuclear fragments as building blocks were connected by 4,4'-bpy or bpe to construct a rectangular cavity with the dimensions 5.57 x 11.28 A (4a) and 5.56 x 13.65 A (5a).

Stepwise formation of "organometallic boxes" with half-sandwich Ir, Rh and Ru fragments

Octanuclear complexes with half-sandwich Ir, Rh and Ru fragments and tetra(4-pyridyl)porphyrin (L1) and oxalate (L2) spacer ligands [(Cp*M)4L1]2[L2]4 (M = Ir (6a) M = Rh (6b)), [((cymene)Ru)4(L1)]2[L2]4 were prepared and characterized.