Cobalt macrocycles, chemically bonded

Of special Interest as O2 reduction electrocatalysts are the transition metal macrocycles In the form of layers adsorptlvely attached, chemically bonded or simply physically deposited on an electrode substrate Some of these complexes catalyze the 4-electron reduction of O2 to H2O or 0H while others catalyze principally the 2-electron reduction to the peroxide and/or the peroxide elimination reactions. Various situ spectroscopic techniques have been used to examine the state of these transition metal macrocycle layers on carbon, graphite and metal substrates under various electrochemical conditions. These techniques have Included (a) visible reflectance spectroscopy (b) laser Raman spectroscopy, utilizing surface enhanced Raman scattering and resonant Raman and (c) Mossbauer spectroscopy. This paper will focus on principally the cobalt and Iron phthalocyanlnes and porphyrins. 

The tetraazamacrocycle and the cobalt-alkyl-macrocycle are interlocked, but the above species is not strictly a catenane since there are cobalt-nitrogen coordinate bonds forming a chemical linkage between the two rings. 

The synthesis of metalloporphyrins which contain a metal-carbon a-bond can be accomplished by a number of different methods(l,2). One common synthetic method involves reaction of a Grignardreagent or alkyl(aryl) lithium with (P)MX or (PMX)2 where P is the dianion of a porphyrin macrocycle and X is a halide or pseudohalide. Another common synthetic technique involves reaction of a chemically or electrochemically generated low valent metalloporphyrin with an alkyl or aryl halide. This latter technique is similar to methods described in this paper for electrosynthesis of cobalt and rhodium a-bonded complexes. However, the prevailing mechanisms and the chemical reactions... 

Moretto, A.F., Zhang, H.-C. and Maryanoff, B.E. (2001) Synthesis of pyridine-containing macrocycles by cobalt-mediated trimerization of triply-bonded species. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 123(13), 3157-3158. 

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