Nitrogen-containing donors

Multidentate ligands contain more than two coordinating atoms per molecule, e.g. 1,2-diaminoethanetetra-acetic acid (ethylenediaminetetra-acetic acid, EDTA),f which has two donor nitrogen atoms and four donor oxygen atoms in the molecule, can be hexadentate. 

Cytochromes. A cytochrome is a protein containing a heme with an iron cation bonded to four donor nitrogen atoms in a square planar array. Figure 20-29a shows the structure of cytochrome c, in which a histidine nitrogen atom and a cysteine sulfur atom occupy the fifth and sixth coordination sites of the octahedral iron center. 

Polydentate nitrogen donor tripod ligands are discussed in this section. Mixed donor ligands containing nitrogen donors are discussed in Section 6.8.11. 

Nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compounds, including 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroqui-noline, piperidine, pyrrolidine and indoline, are also popular hydrogen donors for the reduction of aldehydes, alkenes, and alkynes [75, 76]. With piperidine as hydrogen donor, the highly reactive 1-piperidene intermediate undergoes trimer-ization or, in the presence of amines, an addition reaction [77]. Pyridine was not observed as a reaction product. 

Nitrogen-containing macrocycles are highly complementary for first row transition metals as in the examples shown in Section 1.6. Common azamacrocycles include cyclen ([12]ane-N4) and cyclam (3.45) and many have a history that significantly pre-dates the crown ethers. Unlike the crown ethers which do not have donor atom substituents, the binding constants of azamacrocycles such as cyclam are greatly affected by N-alkylation. Alkylated amines are significantly more basic than ammonia, for... 

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