Complexation Thermodynamics of p-tert-Butylcalix[4]arene Derivatives with Light Lanthanoid Nitrates in Acetonitrile

Abstract

Calorimetric titrations have been performed for the first time in anhydrous acetonitrile at 25°C to give the complex stability constant (K _S) and thermodynamic quantities for the complexation of light lanthanoid(III) nitrates (La-Gd) with 5,11,17,23-tetra-tert-butyl-26,28-bis(cyanomethoxy)-25,27-dihydroxy-calix4]arene (1) and 5,11,17,23-tetra-tert-butyl-26, 28-bis(2-aminoethoxy)-25,27-dihydroxycalix4]arene (2). X-ray crystallographic structures of 1 and 2 were also determined and compared. Possessing the cyanomethoxy and aminoethyl substituents, 1 and 2 displayed strikingly different cation binding abilities and selectivity profiles with much higher K _S values for La³⁺ and Ce³⁺, which may be related to the original structures in the solid state. Thus, the binding profile for 2 showed a rapid decrease in K _S with decreasing ionic diameter from La³⁺ to Pr³⁺ and then became flat up to Gd³⁺, while 1 gave a very flat profile which is superimposable with that for 2 between Pr³⁺-Gd³⁺. Thermodynamically, the complexation is driven absolutely by enthalpy which compensates the entropic loss arising from the structural freezing of the calix4]arene derivatives upon simultaneous binding of lanthanoid ion by the phenolic oxygen and acetonitrile molecule in the cavity. The general validity and the meaning of the compensative enthalpy-entropy relationship observed are discussed.