Activity, lanthanide complexes

Rather than presenting a review of all the possible applications of CPL spectroscopy as a selective probe of chiral structure, we will focus our discussion in this section on three specific experiments that, we believe, illustrate the kinds of unique information that may be obtained from this technique. These three studies will all be concerned with CPL from optically active lanthanide complexes of approximate D3 symmetry. Almost all of these particular CPL measurements have... 

How many open coordination sites are optimal to produce catalyt-ically active lanthanide complexes In the solid state (45), the... 

Scheme 12) [20a]. Shibasaki et al. [20b] used a chiral in situ generated lanthanide complex (64) as catalyst. The optically active lanthanide complex 66 is postulated as the basic intermediate, activating the nitromethane as shown in 67. However, in the case of the Mukaiyama aldol addition, lanthanide Lewis acids still give moderate ee values. 

Danishefsky et al. were probably the first to observe that lanthanide complexes can catalyze the cycloaddition reaction of aldehydes with activated dienes [24]. The reaction of benzaldehyde la with activated conjugated dienes such as 2d was found to be catalyzed by Eu(hfc)3 16 giving up to 58% ee (Scheme 4.16). The ee of the cycloaddition products for other substrates was in the range 20-40% with 1 mol% loading of 16. Catalyst 16 has also been used for diastereoselective cycloaddition reactions using chiral 0-menthoxy-activated dienes derived from (-)-menthol, giving up to 84% de [24b,c] it has also been used for the synthesis of optically pure saccharides. 

Few investigations have included chiral lanthanide complexes as catalysts for cycloaddition reactions of activated aldehydes [42]. The reaction of tert-butyl glyoxylate with Danishefsky s diene gave the expected cycloaddition product in up to 88% yield and 66% ee when a chiral yttrium bis-trifluoromethanesulfonylamide complex was used as the catalyst. 

There has also been some interest in NHC-lanthanide complexes as polymerisation catalysts. Indenyl and fluorenyl functionalised NHC complexes of structures 14 and 15 (Fig. 4.5) were evaluated for isoprene polymerisation following activation... 

The discussion of the activation of bonds containing a group 15 element is continued in chapter five. D.K. Wicht and D.S. Glueck discuss the addition of phosphines, R2P-H, phosphites, (R0)2P(=0)H, and phosphine oxides R2P(=0)H to unsaturated substrates. Although the addition of P-H bonds can be sometimes achieved directly, the transition metal-catalyzed reaction is usually faster and may proceed with a different stereochemistry. As in hydrosilylations, palladium and platinum complexes are frequently employed as catalyst precursors for P-H additions to unsaturated hydrocarbons, but (chiral) lanthanide complexes were used with great success for the (enantioselective) addition to heteropolar double bond systems, such as aldehydes and imines whereby pharmaceutically valuable a-hydroxy or a-amino phosphonates were obtained efficiently. 

Several other lanthanide complexes have been tested for ROP activity with varying degrees of success. Some of these are summarized in Table 2. 

Neutral lanthanide complexes are convenient models for the cationic zirconocene systems and avoid complications due to the presence of counteranions and the limited solubility of ionic compounds. Dynamic NMR studies on yttrium complexes 44-46 has allowed the determination of the alkene binding enthalpy, the activation enthalpy of alkene dissociation, and the relative rates of dissociation and alkyl site exchange (site epimerisation) (Scheme 8.20). Compared to the Zr... 

Recently, tris-p-diketiminate lanthanide complexes [LnL3 ] (X = Cl, L Ln = Pr 111, Nd 112, Sm 113 X = H, L Ln = Nd 114 X = Me, L Ln = Nd 115) (Scheme 12) displaying a high activity in producing PLAs under mild conditions via ROP of L-lactide have been reported. This reactivity may be attributed to the crowded coordination sphere around the central metal, which incidentally affords an activated Ln-N(p-diketiminate) bond. The activity depends on the central metals, and the active trend of Sm < Nd < Pr is consistent with the sequence of the ionic radii [113]. 

The present volume is a non-thematic issue and includes seven contributions. The first chapter byAndreja Bakac presents a detailed account of the activation of dioxygen by transition metal complexes and the important role of atom transfer and free radical chemistry in aqueous solution. The second contribution comes from Jose Olabe, an expert in the field of pentacyanoferrate complexes, in which he describes the redox reactivity of coordinated ligands in such complexes. The third chapter deals with the activation of carbon dioxide and carbonato complexes as models for carbonic anhydrase, and comes from Anadi Dash and collaborators. This is followed by a contribution from Sasha Ryabov on the transition metal chemistry of glucose oxidase, horseradish peroxidase and related enzymes. In chapter five Alexandra Masarwa and Dan Meyerstein present a detailed report on the properties of transition metal complexes containing metal-carbon bonds in aqueous solution. Ivana Ivanovic and Katarina Andjelkovic describe the importance of hepta-coordination in complexes of 3d transition metals in the subsequent contribution. The final chapter by Sally Brooker and co-workers is devoted to the application of lanthanide complexes as luminescent biolabels, an exciting new area of development. 

A further variation on the theme of emission is circularly polarized emission, where chiral interactions, for example between a lanthanide complex and a chiral ligand in solution, can be studied. Selection rules have been given619 based on S, L and / values for 4/states perturbed by spin-orbit coupling and 4/ electron-crystal field interactions, and four types of transition were predicted to be highly active chiroptically. These are given in Table 12. 

Table 12 Active Chiroptical Transitions in Lanthanide Complexes...

Lactam, ring formation, 288 Lactones, optically active, 31 Lanthanide complexes epoxy ring opening, 234 hetero-Diels-Alder reactions, 217 nitno-aldol reaction, 228 Laudanosine, 36 Leucine hydrocarboxylation, 168 Lewis acid complexes, 212 Ligands ... 

Lactones, via indium compounds, 9, 686 Lactonizations, via ruthenium catalysts, 10, 160 Ladder polysilanes, preparation and properties, 3, 639 Lanthanacarboranes, synthesis, 3, 249 Lanthanide complexes with alkenyls, 4, 17 with alkyls, 4, 7 with alkynyls, 4, 17 with allyls, 4, 19 with arenes, 4, 119, 4, 118 and aromatic C-F bond activation, 1, 738 bis(Cp ), 4, 73... 

To condude, it is recognized that electronic and geometric parameters both affect the nonlinear activity however, for lanthanide complexes the electronic parameters have been to date been found to be more significant for the nonlinear activity in second-harmonic generation. Such a hypothesis is outlined by previous studies by other groups on direct f electron contributions and by this work, which suggests that the number of unpaired electron can act as an additional factor... 

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