Synthesis and structural characterization of new phosphinooxazoline complexes of iron

The first phosphinooxazoline chelate complexes of iron were synthesized, and their structural and electronic properties were studied.The known phosphinooxazolines 2-(2-(diphenylphosphino)phenyl)-4,5-dihydrooxazole (7a), 2-(2-(diphenylphosphino)phenyl)-4,4-dimethyl-4,5-dihydrooxazole (7b), (S)-4-benzyl-2-(2-(diphenylphosphino)phenyl)-4,5-dihydrooxazole (7e) and (R)-2-(2-(diphenylphosphino)phenyl)-4-phenyl-4,5-dihydrooxazole (7f) were synthesized by a modified three step literature procedure with improved 67-60% overall yields. The new electronically tuned phosphinooxazolines 2-(5-bromo-2-(diphenylphosphino)phenyl)-4,4-dimethyl-4,5-dihydrooxazole (7c), 3-(4,4-dimethyl-4,5-dihydrooxazol-2-yl)-4-(diphenylphosphino)-N,N-dimethylaniline (7d) and 2-(2-(diphenylphosphino)-3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)-4,4-dimethyl-4,5-dihydrooxazole (7g) were synthesized in three to six steps with 59-29% overall yields. Reaction of 7a-f with CpFe(CO)₂I (110 °C, 2 h, toluene) gave the iodide salts of the new iron phosphinooxazoline complexes [CpFe(CO)(7a-f)]⁺ in 87-21% yield. The new complexes were characterized by X-ray and the molecular structures confirm the octahedral coordination geometry and the half-sandwich structure about the iron center. The impact of different oxazoline ligands on the steric and electronic properties of their iron complexes was determined by analysis of selected bond lengths, ν_CO stretching frequency and the oxidation potentials of the ligands and the iron complexes.