The synthesis and coordination properties of new macrocyclic polyethers

A new type of macrocyclic polyethers has been synthesized. It consists of an azacrown ether as mother ring, e.g. 1,7-dioxa-4,10-diaza-cyclododecane (1a) or 1,7,10,16-tetraoxa-4,13-diazacycloocatadecane (1b), and two side chains attached on the two nitrogen atoms of 1a or 1b. A number of these new crown ethers are obtained by alkylation of the two secondary amino groups of 1a or 1b with corresponding halides, BrCH₂(CH₂OCH₂)_nCH₂OR, in the presence of potassium carbonate. The crown-alkali metal complex thus obtained is hydrolyzed by acid. In order to obtain pure crown ether the reaction mixture is treated with tetramethylammonium hydroxide and followed by solvent extraction. The ability of complexing alkali cations of macrocyclic polyethers in terms of the equilibrium constant have been studied by the method of solubilities of salts in chloroform. It is shown that the size of the mother ring, the number of oxygen atoms either in the ring or in the side-chains, and the ionic radius of the alkali metal are the factors governing the stability of the metal complexes. Most of these new crown ethers possess high ability for alkali metal complexation some of them, such as N,N′- di-β-methoxyethyl-1,7-dioxa-4,10-diaza-cyclododecanc (13a), possesses higher selectivity for Na+ and K+ ions than 18-crown-6- and 4,4′(5′)-dimethylbenz-30-crown-10.