Iron(II) complexes with tetradentate bis(aminophenolate) ligands: synthesis and characterization, solution behavior, and reactivity with O(2)

Tetradentate bis(aminophenolate) ligands H(2)salan(X) and H(2)bapen(X) (where X refers to the para-phenolate substituent = H, Me, F, Cl) react with [Fe{N(SiMe(3))(2)}(2)] to form iron(II) complexes, which in the presence of suitable donor ligands L (L = pyridine or THF) can be isolated as the complexes [Fe(salan(X))(L)(2)] and [Fe(bapen(X))(L)(2)]. In the absence of donor ligands, either mononuclear complexes, for example, [Fe(salan(tBu,tBu))], or dinuclear complexes of the type [Fe(salan(X))](2) are obtained. The dynamic coordination behavior in solution of the complexes [Fe(salan(F))(L)(2)] and [Fe(bapen(F))(L)(2)] has been investigated by VT (1)H and (19)F NMR spectroscopy, which has revealed equilibria between isomers with different ligand coordination topologies cis-α, cis-β and trans. Exposure of the iron(II) salan(X) complexes to O(2) results in the formation of oxo-bridged iron(III) complexes of the type [{Fe(salan(X))}(2)(μ-O)] or [{Fe(salan(X))(L)}(2)(μ-O)]. The lack of catalytic activity of the iron(II) salan and bapen complexes in the oxidation of cyclohexane with H(2)O(2) as the oxidant is attributed to the rapid formation of stable and catalytically inactive oxo-bridged iron(III) complexes.     

Encapsulation of chiral Fe(salan) in nanocages with different microenvironments for asymmetric sulfide oxidation

The solid catalysts for asymmetric oxidation of sulfides were prepared by encapsulating a chiral iron salan complex [Fe(salan)] in the nanocages of mesoporous silicas. The microenvironment of nanocages was finely tuned using silylation reagents with different kinds of organic groups, such as propyl (C3), 1-butyl-3-propyl-4,5-dihydroimidazolium bromide (ILBr), N-propyl-N,N,N-tri-n-butylammonium chloride (TBNCl) and N-propyl-N,N,N-tri-n-butylammonium bromide (TBNBr), and investigated by water and benzene adsorption. Fe(salan) encapsulated in the amphiphilic nanocage shows much higher enantioselectivity and activity than that in hydrophobic or hydrophilic nanocage for the asymmetric oxidation of thioanisole using H(2)O(2) as oxidant. The TOF of Fe(salan) encapsulated in the nanocage modified with TBNBr can reach as high as 220 h(-1), even higher than homogeneous Fe(salan) with a TOF of 112 h(-1). The enhanced catalytic activity is mainly due to the fast diffusion of H(2)O(2) and sulfide in the amphiphilic nanocage. The above results suggest that the microenvironment modification of the nanocage is an efficient method to synthesize highly efficient solid catalysts for asymmetric catalysis.     

Asymmetric cyanohydrin synthesis using an aluminium(salan) complex

The asymmetric addition of trimethylsilyl cyanide to aldehydes catalysed by chiral metal(salan) complexes has been investigated. Salan complexes of titanium and vanadium displayed only low catalytic activity, but a bimetallic aluminium(salan) complex gave high levels of catalytic activity and reasonable asymmetric induction when used with triphenylphosphine oxide as a cocatalyst. Mechanistic studies showed that the reactions were first order in catalyst and aldehyde concentrations, but zero order in trimethylsilyl cyanide and triphenylphosphine oxide concentrations. A Hammett analysis indicated that there was no significant change in the electron density at the aldehyde benzylic position during the rate determining step of the catalytic cycle. On the basis of the kinetic data, a catalytic cycle is proposed which accounts for the differences observed between [Al(salen)]₂O and [Al(salan)]₂O based catalysts.     

Mechanistic Insight into the Stereochemical Control of Lactide Polymerization by Salan–Aluminum Catalysts

Alkyl aluminum complexes of chiral salan ligands assembled around the 2,2′‐bipyrrolidine core form as single diastereomers that have identical configurations of the N donors. Active catalysts for the polymerization of lactide were formed upon the addition of benzyl alcohol. Polymeryl exchange between enantiomorphous aluminum species had a dramatic effect on the tacticity of the poly(lactic acid) (PLA) in the polymerization of racemic lactide (rac‐LA): The enantiomerically pure catalyst of the nonsubstituted salan ligand led to isotactic PLA, and the racemic catalyst exhibited lower stereocontrol. The enantiomerically pure catalyst of the chloro‐substituted salan ligand led to PLA with a slight tendency toward heterotacticity, whereas the racemic catalyst led to PLA of almost perfect heterotacticity following an insertion/auto‐inhibition/exchange mechanism.     

Titanium–salan‐catalyzed asymmetric sulfoxidations with H2O2: design of more versatile catalysts

Titanium–salan complexes with 3,3’‐diphenyl substituents in the salicylidene rings of the salan ligand are efficient sulfoxidation catalysts, capable of catalyzing the asymmetric oxidation of bulky aryl benzyl sulfides with H₂O₂ with good to high enantioselectivities. In this paper, substituent effects on titanium‐salan‐catalyzed enantioselective oxidation of sulfides to sulfoxides have been systematically investigated. Titanium–salan catalysts with halogen substituents at the 5,5’‐positions (3,3’‐H₂dihydrogen substituted) have been found to catalyze the oxidation of both bulky aryl benzyl sulfides and small alkyl phenyl sulfides with good to high enantioselectivities. Kinetic data witness a direct attack of the sulfide to the electrophilic active oxygen species; a consistent reaction mechanism is proposed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mn(III)‐salan/graphene oxide/magnetite nanocomposite as a highly selective catalyst for aerobic epoxidation of olefins

A nanocomposite was synthesized using carbon‐coated Fe₃O₄ nanoparticle‐decorated reduced graphene oxide as a convenient and efficient supporting material for grafting of a manganese–reduced Schiff base (salan) complex via covalent attachment. The nanocomposite was characterized using X‐ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared and diffuse reflectance UV–visible spectroscopies, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy. It was evaluated as a catalyst for the aerobic epoxidation of olefins in acetonitrile in combination with a sacrificial co‐reductant (isobutyraldehyde). The catalytic performance of the heterogeneous system of the Mn–salan complex is superior to that of the homogeneous one. The catalyst activity strongly depends on the reaction temperature and nature of the solvent. The epoxide yield increases with the nucleophilic character of the olefin. The nanocomposite performs well as an epoxidation catalyst for electron‐rich and conjugated olefins. It can be recovered from the reaction medium by magnetic decantation and reused, maintaining good catalytic activity. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Major impact of N-methylation on cytotoxicity and hydrolysis of salan Ti(IV) complexes: sterics and electronics are intertwined

A series of Ti(IV) complexes containing diamino bis(phenolato) "salan" type ligands with NH coordination were prepared, and their hydrolysis and cytotoxicity were analyzed and compared to the N-methylated analogues. Substituting methyl groups on the coordinative nitrogen donor of highly active and stable Ti(IV) salan complexes with H atoms has two main consequences: the hydrolysis rate increases and the cytotoxic activity diminishes. In addition, the small modification of a single replacement of Me with H leads to a different major hydrolysis product, where a dinuclear Ti(IV) complex with two bridging oxo ligands is obtained, as characterized by X-ray crystallography, rather than a trinuclear cluster. A partial hydrolysis product containing a single oxo bridge was also crystallographically analyzed. Investigation of a series of complexes with NH donors of different steric and electronic effects revealed that cytotoxicity may be restored by fine tuning these parameters even for complexes of low stability.     

Amino-phenol complexes of Fe(III) as promising T1 accelerators

Iron(III) complexes with N,O-ligands are compounds of high interest because they can be applied in catalysis and play an important role in living organisms, e.g., as models of catechol dioxygenase. Several N,O-ligands were studied: their synthesis, iron(III) complexation and the potential of the latter as T₁-MRI contrast agents. A route to the tetrapodal N₃O₂-naphthyl ligand was investigated. The resulting iron complex was obtained in 26% total yield and its relaxivity value was moderate (r₁ = 1.03 in water and 2.54 s^?1 mM^?1 in serum). Thus, phenyl isomeric salan complexes were obtained. These complexes differed in charge (positive and neutral) and in the presence of polar hydrogen-bonding substituents. The highest relaxivities (r₁ = 2.39 in water and 5.37 s^?1 mM^?1 in serum) were obtained for the Fe(III) cationic complex with MeO groups in the ligand. EPR studies confirmed a high spin configuration of rhombically distorted Fe(III) complexes.     

Copolymerization of Cyclohexene Oxide and CO(2) with a Chromium Diamine-bis(phenolate) Catalyst

A diamine-bis(phenolate) chromium(III) complex, {CrCl[O(2)NN'](BuBu)}(2) catalyzes the copolymerization of cyclohexene oxide with carbon dioxide. The synthesis of this metal complex is straightforward, and it can be obtained in high yields. This catalyst incorporates a tripodal amine-bis(phenolate) ligand, which differs from the salen or salan ligands typically used with Cr and Co complexes that have been employed as catalysts for the synthesis of such polycarbonates. The catalyst reported herein yields low molecular weight polymers with narrow polydispersities. Structural and spectroscopic details of this complex along with its copolymerization activity for cyclohexene oxide and carbon dioxide are presented.     

Cytotoxic Titanium Salan Complexes: Surprising Interaction of Salan and Alkoxy Ligands

The synthesis, biochemical evaluation, and hydrolysis studies of a wide selection of alkyl‐ and halogen‐substituted titanium salan alkoxides are presented herein. A systematic change in the employed alkoxides revealed that both the bulk of the salan ligands and the steric demand of the labile ligands are of great importance for the obtained biological activity. Surprisingly, these two factors are not independent from each other; lowering the steric demand of the alkoxide of a hitherto nontoxic complex renders it cytotoxic. Therefore, our data suggest that the overall size of the complex exerts a strong influence on its biological activity. To decide whether the correlation between the cytotoxicity and the steric demand of the whole complex is merely based on an altered hydrolysis or on the interaction with biomolecules, the behavior of selected complexes under hydrolytic conditions and the influence of transferrin were investigated. Complexes differing only in their labile alkoxy ligands gave the same hydrolysis products with similar hydrolysis rates but displayed cytotoxicities that differed in the range of one order of magnitude. Thus, it seems that the hydrolysis product is not the active species but rather that the unhydrolysed complex is important for the first interaction with a biomolecule. This promoted the idea of hydrolysis being a detoxification pathway. In accordance with the above conclusion, chloro‐substituted complex [Ti(Ph^ClN^Me)₂(O^iPr)₂] displayed a high cytotoxicity (IC₅₀≈5 μM ) and surprisingly high hydrolytic stability (t_1/2=108 h). These findings, together with the observed cytotoxicity in a cisplatin‐resistant cell line, make halo‐substituted salan complexes an interesting target for further studies.     

Unexpected influence of stereochemistry on the cytotoxicity of highly efficient Ti(IV) salan complexes: new mechanistic insights

The effect of stereochemistry on the cytotoxicity of highly active and hydrolytically stable N-methylated Ti(IV) salan complexes is reported. Four bis(isopropoxo) complexes incorporating N-methylated salan ligands with different aromatic substitution patterns have been prepared in racemic and optically active forms for the first time by ligand-to-metal chiral induction from trans-diaminocyclohexyl-based chiral ligands. The configuration of the metal center that derives from that of the ligand has an enormous influence on cytotoxicity, with the racemic mixture mostly being more active than the single enantiomers that are of either similar or different activity. This implies that the active species is a salan-bound heterochiral polynuclear compound, interacting with a chiral target. Four additional complexes of achiral salan and chiral labile sec-butoxo ligands, analyzed as racemic and as homochiral, revealed no influence of stereochemistry, supporting early dissociation of the labile ligands to give the polynuclear products.     

Effect of ligand N,N-substituents on the reactivity of chiral copper(II) salalen,salan, and salalan complexes toward asymmetric nitroaldol reactions

The synthesis and effect of ligand N,N-substituents on the reactivity of chiral copper(II) salalen, salan, and salalan complexes toward nitroaldol reactions of nitromethane with various aldehydes have been described. The salan complexes exhibit superior results compared to the salalen and salalan complexes; the nature of the N,N-substituents is crucial for the enantioselectivity of the target nitroaldol products.     

Highly cytotoxic vanadium(V) complexes of salan ligands; insights on the role of hydrolysis

Vanadium(V) oxo complexes with tetradentate diamine bis(phenolato) "salan" ligands of the type LVO(OiPr) (L is salan) with different steric and electronic substitutions at the ortho and para positions to the binding phenolato moiety were synthesized and their hydrolytic stability and cytotoxicity were analyzed. With one exception bearing large steric groups, all complexes examined displayed marked cytotoxic activity, comparable to, and often higher than, that of cisplatin. While the hydrolytic stability changed significantly depending on the substituent at the ortho position relative the O-donor with little effect of para substitutions, the cytotoxic activity largely was not affected, and high cytotoxicity was recorded also for relatively unstable complexes. Additional measurements revealed that the cytotoxicity is largely maintained following pre-incubation of up to 18 hours of the complexes in the biological medium prior to cell addition, suggesting that hydrolysis products might serve as the active species. In addition, appreciable cytotoxic activity was measured for an isolated hydrolysis product that was analyzed crystallographically to exhibit a dimeric structure with bridging oxo ligand where both metal centers are bound to the salan ligand, supporting the aforementioned conclusions.     

Synthesis of salan (salalen) ligands derived from binaphthol for titanium-catalyzed asymmetric epoxidation of olefins with aqueous H2O2

A series of chiral salan (salalen) ligands, easily prepared from the aldehyde derived from chiral binaphthol, are effective ligands for the titanium-catalyzed asymmetric epoxidation of olefins with aqueous H₂O₂ as the oxidant. One of the titanium–salan complexes was determined by X-ray crystallography.     

Redox-active tetrahydrosalen (salan) complexes of titanium

A diarylamino-substituted N-methyl tetrahydrosalen (salan) ligand, (An2N)LH(2), is prepared in four steps and overall 53% yield from 5-bromosalicylaldehyde, with the key step a palladium-catalysed Hartwig-Buchwald amination of the tert-butyldimethylsilyl-protected 5-bromo-N-methylsalan ligand. Reaction of (An2N)LH(2) or its bromo analogue with Ti(O(i)Pr)(4) or TiF(4) results in metalation of the ligand. The isopropoxide groups are readily exchanged with α- or β-hydroxyacids to form chelated complexes. X-ray crystallography and NMR spectroscopy indicate that the salan ligands are quite flexible, with (An2N)LTiF(2), for example, showing four stereoisomers in its (19)F NMR spectrum. The major stereoisomer of (salan)Ti(X)(Y) depends principally on the trans influence of the X and Y groups. Complexes of (An2N)L show two reversible, closely spaced redox couples at approximately + 0.1 V vs. ferrocene/ferrocenium, and a second set of two closely spaced redox couples at ~ + 0.8 V vs. Fc/Fc(+).     

Efficient asymmetric oxidation of sulfides and kinetic resolution of sulfoxides catalyzed by a vanadium-salan system

The asymmetric oxidation of sulfides to chiral sulfoxides with hydrogen peroxide in good yield and high enantioselectivity has been catalyzed very effectively by chiral vanadium-salan [N,N'-alkyl bis(salicylamine)] complex. The salan ligand shows results superior in terms of reactivity and enantioselectivity to those of salen [N,N'-alkylene bis(salicylideneimine)] analogue, and provides the sulfoxide with opposite configuration. The high enantioselectivity of this reaction is the direct result of the asymmetric oxidation. The efficient kinetic resolution of racemic sulfoxides catalyzed by the vanadium-salan system is also described.     

Enantioselective fluorescent recognition of mandelic acid by unsymmetrical salalen and salan sensors

As sensors with multiple chiral centers, salalen 1 and salan 2 composed of trans-cyclohexane-1,2-diamine (trans-DACH) and 1,1'-bi-2-naphthol (BINOL) units were designed and synthesized. Fluorescent recognition studies of resulting sensors towards mandelic acid (MA) reveal that salan 2a containing (R)-BINOL and (R,R)-DACH exhibits highly sensitive and enantioselective response towards MA. The relationship between the chirality combination and the enantioselectivity is discussed. Based on the studies of concentration and solvent effect on the recognition process of 2a, it was found that the sensitivity and enantioselectivity could be enhanced via changing the concentration of sensors or altering the polarity of solvents. To explain why higher enantioselectivity can be achieved in moderate polar solvent other than in nonpolar or polar solvent, a solvent-guest competition mechanism, which may shed a light on the enhancement of the enantioselectivity of chiral recognition and noncovalent asymmetric catalysis, has been proposed and validated.     

Chelate resin-iron(II) complex: Adsorption and desorption of nitrogen monoxide at the dry state

A chelate resin-immobilized iron(II) complex was prepared from iron(II) and poly(styrenecodivinylbenzene) which is functionalized by iminodiacetic acid group. It is activated by drying after having been washed with methanol. The resin complex can rapidly adsorb nitrogen monoxide, and the nitrogen monoxide adsorbed on the complex can be released by the treatment with heat. The adsorption of nitrogen monoxide proceeds through the 1:1 complex formation of the NO molecule with the iron(II) atom, and its complex formation constant was calculated as 8330 atm^?1 at room temperature from Langmuir plots. This value does not depend on the solvents used for washing. The activation of the resin complex by the treatment of washing with methanol is derived by increasing the amount of effective iron(II) ions due to the increase in the surface area. Moreover, this resin complex was revealed to have high complex formation constant with NO and high durability to dioxygen compared with an aqueous solution of ethylenediaminetetraacetato–iron(II) complex, which is the corresponding monomeric absorbent commonly used for nitrogen monoxide.     

A Chiral Macrocyclic Tetra-N-Heterocyclic Carbene Yields an “All Carbene” Iron Alkylidene Complex

The first chiral macrocyclic tetra-N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligand has been synthesized. The macrocycle, prepared in high yield and large scale, was ligated onto palladium and iron to give divalent C₂-symmetric square planar complexes. Multinuclear NMR and single crystal X-ray diffraction demonstrated that there are two distinct NHCs on each ligand, due to the bridging chiral cyclohexane. Oxidation of the iron(II) complex with trimethylamine N-oxide yielded a bridging oxo complex. Diazodiphenylmethane reacted with the iron(II) complex at room temperature to give a paramagnetic diazoalkane complex; the same reaction yielded the “all carbene” complex at elevated temperature. Electrochemical measurements support the assignment of the “all carbene” complex being an alkylidene. Notably, the diazoalkane complex can be directly transformed into the alkylidene complex, which had not been previously demonstrated on iron. Finally, a test catalytic reaction with a diazoalkane on the iron(II) complex does not yield the expected cyclopropane, but actually the azine compound.     

Ar-BINMOL–Derived Salan–Cu(II) Complex–Catalyzed Silyl-Reformatsky Reaction of Aromatic Aldehydes

In this work, we have developed a facile protocol with salan–Cu system for the facile and selective synthesis of β-hydroxyesters via silyl-Reformatsky reaction with α-silylester and aldehydes. The screening and optimization of reaction conditions led to the determination of a practical and efficient procedure in which the salan–Cu exhibited promising catalytic activity in dimethylsulfoxide, in which the silyl-Reformatsky reaction of aromatic aldehydes with α-trimethylsilylmethylacetate gave the corresponding β-hydroxyester derivatives in excellent yields (up to 98%) under fluoride-free reaction conditions.