Kinetic stability, coordination complexes

It is important to note that, even when the coordination geometry prescribed by the macrocyclic cavity is ideal for the metal ion involved, unusual kinetic and thermodynamic properties may also be observed (relative to the corresponding open-chain ligand complex). For example, very often the macrocyclic complex will exhibit both enhanced thermodynamic and kinetic stabilities (kinetic stability occurs when there is a reluctance for the ligand to dissociate from its metal ion). These increased stabilities are a manifestation of what has been termed the macrocyclic effect - the multi-faceted origins of which will be discussed in detail in subsequent chapters. 

We can now make sensible guesses as to the order of rate constant for water replacement from coordination complexes of the metals tabulated. (With the formation of fused rings these relationships may no longer apply. Consider, for example, the slow reactions of metal ions with porphyrine derivatives (20) or with tetrasulfonated phthalocyanine, where the rate determining step in the incorporation of metal ion is the dissociation of the pyrrole N-H bond (164).) The reason for many earlier (mostly qualitative) observations on the behavior of complex ions can now be understood. The relative reaction rates of cations with the anion of thenoyltrifluoroacetone (113) and metal-aqua water exchange data from NMR studies (69) are much as expected. The rapid exchange of CN " with Hg(CN)4 2 or Zn(CN)4-2 or the very slow Hg(CN)+, Hg+2 isotopic exchange can be understood, when the dissociative rate constants are estimated. Reactions of the type M+a + L b = ML+(a "b) can be justifiably assumed rapid in the proposed mechanisms for the redox reactions of iron(III) with iodide (47) or thiosulfate (93) ions or when copper(II) reacts with cyanide ions (9). Finally relations between kinetic and thermodynamic parameters are shown by a variety of complex ions since the dissociation rate constant dominates the thermodynamic stability constant of the complex (127). A recently observed linear relation between the rate constant for dissociation of nickel complexes with a variety of pyridine bases and the acidity constant of the base arises from the constancy of the formation rate constant for these complexes (87). 

Although both geometrical and optical isomerism are in principle possible in seven-coordinate complexes, no examples are known. Note, for example, that the py3tren complexes must be optically active (see Fig. 12 35b), subject of course to kinetic stability with respect to racemizciion. 

An example22-24 of the use of this approach applied to neutral coordination complexes is the reaction given in equation (17), which was studied in aqueous dioxane and aqueous THF. An analysis of the reaction (the reaction is bimolecular and follows second order kinetics) revealed that increasing the organic component of the solution resulted in an increase in AG, i.e. a decrease in the rate, and this was due, in the case of L = bipy, to stabilization of the reactants with very... 

Other Coordination Complexes. Because carbonate and bicarbonate are commonly found under environmental conditions in water, and because carbonate complexes Pu readily in most oxidation states, Pu carbonato complexes have been studied extensively. The reduction potentials vs the standard hydrogen electrode of Pu(VI)/(V) shifts from 0.916 to 0.33 V and the Pu(IV)/(III) potential shifts from 1.48 to -0.50 V in 1 M carbonate. These shifts indicate strong carbonate complexation. Electrochemistry, reaction kinetics, and spectroscopy of plutonium carbonates in solution have been reviewed (113). The solubility of Pu(IV) in aqueous carbonate solutions has been measured, and the stability constants of hydroxycarbonato complexes have been calculated (Fig. 6b) (90). 

The thermodynamic and kinetic stabilization ofnickel(III) macrocyclic complexes by axial coordination has prompted a number of new approaches. Studies with tetraaza macrocyclic ligands with pendant donors acting as potential fifth ligands have had some success (96, 99,100). Oxidation of [Ni"[14]aneN4CH2CH2py]2+ in aqueous solution... 

Coordinated a-amino amides can be formed by the nucleophilic addition of amines to coordinated a-amino esters (see Chapter 7.4). This reaction forms the basis of attempts to use suitable metal coordination to promote peptide synthesis. Again, studies have been carried out using coordination of several metals and an interesting early example is amide formation on an amino acid imine complex of magnesium (equation 75).355 However, cobalt(III) complexes, because of their high kinetic stability, have received most serious investigation. These studies have been closely associated with those previously described for the hydrolysis of esters, amides and peptides. Whereas hydrolysis is observed when reactions are carried out in water, reactions in dimethyl-formamide or dimethyl sulfoxide result in peptide bond formation. These comparative results are illustrated in Scheme 91.356-358 The key intermediate (126) has also been reacted with dipeptide... 

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