Two alternative approaches to modification of a cage complex: nucleophilic substitution and electrophilic addition for the synthesis of an iron(II) clathrochelate with an annulated imidazole fragment

A rib-functionalized iron(II) tris-dioximate clathrochelate bearing an annulated phenylimidazole fragment was prepared using nucleophilic substitution and electrophilic addition at the chelating α-dioximate fragment of the macrobicyclic framework. The resultant cage complex was identified with single crystal XRD, analytical data, ¹H, ¹³C, ¹⁹F, ¹¹B NMR spectroscopy, and examined with UV–vis spectroscopy and CVA. Two approaches to modification of the clathrochelate framework are compared.