A new series of dinucleating macrocyclic ligands and their complexes of zinc(II)

A new category of dinucleating macrocyclic Schiff base ligands with ring sizes from 34- to 52-membered have been synthesised employing metal template procedures involving the reaction of o-phenylenediamine with a series of α,ω-bis(3′-hydroxy-4′-formylphenyloxy)alkanes in the presence of calcium(II), barium(II) or manganese(II). The latter cations act as ‘transient’ templates for formation of the corresponding metal-free Schiff base macrocyclic ligands, H₄Lⁿ (where n signifies the number of carbons in each linking bis-alkoxy chain); the macrocycles corresponding to n = 4, 6 and 8 were isolated and characterised while, for n = 1, in which single methylene groups acts as the bridges between salicyl moieties, the cyclic product was used directly for preparation of its dinuclear complex, Zn₂L¹], without prior isolation. Evidence for the templating role of barium in the preparation of H₄L⁶ and H₄L⁸ was obtained by isolation of the corresponding species of type H₄Lⁿ·2Ba(ClO₄)₂ (n = 6 or 8) as ‘intermediates’ before generation of the respective metal-free macrocycles. Reaction of zinc(II) acetate with the free macrocycles in methanol yielded complexes of type Zn₂Lⁿ] in all cases. A related non-cyclic ligand, H₂L⁰ and its corresponding mononuclear complex, ZnL⁰]·H₂O, were also synthesised and its spectral properties compared with those of the macrocyclic derivatives. The elemental analyses, ¹H NMR, IR, UV–Vis and MS spectra of the respective zinc complexes in each case were in accord with the formation of the expected 2:2 condensation product. The results of DFT calculations to probe aspects of the electronic and structural natures of both H₂L¹ and H₄L⁴ are briefly presented.