Donor atom selection

The nature of the donor atoms in the chelating agent. Ligands which contain donor atoms of the soft-base type form their most stable complexes with the relatively small group of Class B metal ions (i.e. soft acids) and are thus more selective reagents. This is illustrated by the reagent diphenylthiocarbazone (dithizone) used for the solvent extraction of metal ions such as Pd2+, Ag+, Hg2+, Cu2+, Bi3+, Pb2+, and Zn2 +. ... 

Ruthenium, in its normal oxidation states of II and III, forms a wide range of complexes with most available donor atoms, of which a representative selection are mentioned below. 

Silver(I) complexes with macrocyclic ligands that possess O/N/S as donor atoms have been studied extensively 1474-1533 in Figure 16 a selection of some silver complexes with this type of ligands can be seen. 

Selective Ligands Based on Different Donor Atoms... 

The above account of selectivity of inorganic plus organic chemistry in synthesis is given rather extensively to stress three points. All the four (Mg, Fe, Co and Ni) porphyrin products came from one source, the synthesis of uroporphyrin. The basis of selection is very different from that in primitive centres which use thermodynamic stability constant selectivity based on different donor atoms for different metal ions. Here, all ion complexes have the same donor atoms, nitrogen, the most constrained being the coordination of Mg2+ by five nitrogens exactly as is seen for Fe in haemoglobin. Hence, there also has to be a new control feedback to ensure that the appropriate quantities of each metal cofactor is produced in a balanced way, that is synthesis from uroporphyrin has to be divided based upon... 

Another example of selective C=C bond hydrogenation has arisen from mechanistic studies on an iron m-hydride dihydrogen complex, [Fe(PP3)(FI)(H2)](BF4) [PP3 = P(CH2CH2PPh2)3], a catalyst inactive with alkene substrates. Scheme 6 shows that no decoordination of dihydrogen is required in any step of the cycle and that the vacant site is created by unfastening of one of the P-donor atoms (species (16)).50 Extensive studies on catalytic alkene hydrogenation by analogous tripodal (polyphosphine) Rh, Os, and Ir complexes have been carried by Bianchini and co-workers.51,52... 

Based on donor atom type, macrocyclic ligands can be considered to span two extreme types. First there are those systems which chiefly contain nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus, and/or arsenic donors. These macrocycles tend to have considerable affinity for transition and other heavy metal ions they usually show much less tendency to form stable complexes with ions of the alkali and alkaline earth metals. The present discussion will be restricted to a consideration of a selection of such ligands and their complexes. 

The complexation of the alkaline earth metals is reminiscent of the behaviour of several of the naturally occurring antibiotics and, like the latter, the crown often exhibits remarkable selectivity for particular ions. The thermodynamic factors underlying the selectivity of many of the crowns have been studied in some depth and the results related to such parameters as cavity size, number of donor atoms present, possible ring conformations on complex formation and the solvation energies of the various species involved. 

Abstract In this chapter, selected results obtained so far on Fe(III) spin crossover compounds are summarized and discussed. Fe(III) spin transition materials of ligands containing chalcogen donor atoms are considered with emphasis on those of M,f T-disubsti-tuted-dithiocarbamates, Ar,N-disubstituted-XY-carbamates (XY=SO, SSe, SeSe), X-xan-thates (X=0, S), monothio-/J-diketonates and X-semicarbazones (X=S, Se). In addition, attention is directed to Fe(III) spin crossover systems of multidentate Schiff base-type ligands. Examples of spin inter-conversion in Fe(III) compounds induced by light irradiation are given. 

The absolute stereochemistry for 150 (entries 2 and 3) was determined by hydrolysis and conversion to known compounds. Assuming a tetrahedral or cis octahedral geometry for the magnesium [110], the product stereochemistry is consistent with si face radical addition to an s-cis conformer of the substrate. This is the same sense of selectivity as that obtained with oxazo-lidinone crotonates or cinnamates suggesting that the rotamer geometry of the differentially substituted enoates is the same. The need for stoichiometric amount of the chiral Lewis acid to obtain high selectivity with 148 in contrast to successful catalytic reactions with crotonates is most likely a reflection of the additional donor atom present in the substrate. 

Proteins are water-soluble biopolymers with a huge number of potential donor atoms and coordination sites which could make them useful carriers of metal complex catalysts. Indeed, a few successful attempts can be found in the literature [139] but often the interaction of proteins and metal complexes lead to a loss of catalytic activity [140]. This was not the case with human serum albumin (HSA) which formed a stable and active catalytically active complex with [Rh(acac)(CO)2]. In the hydroformylation of 1-octene and styrene the selectivity towards aldehydes was excellent, moreover styrene reacted with high regioselectivity (b/1 = 19). The activity... 

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