Mononuclear and dinuclear chiral vanadium(V) complexes with tridentate Schiff bases derived from R(−)-1,2-diaminopropane: Synthesis,structure, characterization and catalytic properties

A series of vanadium(V) complexes with unsymmetrical tridentate Schiff base ligands, obtained by the single condensation of R(−)-1,2-diaminopropane with salicylaldehyde and its derivatives, 2-hydroxy-1-naphthaldehyde, 2-hydroxyacetophenone, 1-hydroxy-2-acetonaphthone and 2-hydroxybenzophenone, were prepared. The complexes were characterized by elemental analysis and by their IR, CD, UV–Vis, 1D (¹H, ⁵¹V) and 2D (COSY, NOESY, gHSQC) NMR spectra. Crystal structures of the mononuclear complex {R(−)-2-amino-1-N-(2′-oxido-κO-4′,6′-dimethoxyphenyl)methylene]aminopropane-κ²N}dioxidovanadium(V), VO₂(C₁₂H₁₇N₂O₃), 4, and of the dinuclear complex, di-μ-oxido-bis({R(−)-2-1-(2-aminopropylimino)ethyl]-4-methylphenolato-κ³N,N′,O}oxidovanadium(V)), V₂O₄(C₁₁H₁₅N₂O)₂, 5, have been obtained by X-ray diffraction studies. The structure of 4 was revealed to be a distorted trigonal–bipyramidal coordination geometry, rarely encountered in VO₂(tridentate Schiff base) complexes. Complexes 2 and 3 have the ability to catalyze the oxidation of prochiral sulfide substrates PhSR (R = Me, Bz) utilizing hydrogen peroxide or cumene hydroperoxide (CHPO) as the oxidant.