Lanthanide complexes stereochemistry

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. 

The electronic spectra and magnetic susceptibihty of lanthanide complexes thus cannot be used to give diagnostic information on the stereochemistry of lanthanide compounds as for the 3d transition metals. Ultimately, reliable stereochemical information can only be obtained from diffraction measurements. 

Interest in the lanthanide complex species is centered currently largely in coordination number and stereochemistry, in thermodynamic stability and its interpretation, in the effects of the ligand on the properties of the lanthanide ion, and in practical applications. 

Fig. 21 Stereochemistry of cyclen-lanthanide complex with four pendant arms. Reprinted with permission from [119], (2002), American Chemical Society...

Extensive efforts have been made to develop catalyst systems to control the stereochemistry, addition site, and other properties of the final polymers. Among the most prominant ones are transition metal-based catalysts including Ziegler or Ziegler-Natta type catalysts. The metals most frequentiy studied are Ti (203,204), Mo (205), Co (206-208), Cr (206-208), Ni (209,210), V (205), Nd (211-215), and other lanthanides (216). Of these, Ti, Co, and Ni complexes have been used commercially. It has long been recognized that by varying the catalyst compositions, the trans/cis ratio for 1,4-additions can be controlled quite selectively (204). Catalysts have also been developed to control the ratio of 1,4- to 1,2-additions within the polymers (203). 

In view of the magnitude of crystal-field effects it is not surprising that the spectra of actinide ions are sensitive to the latter s environment and, in contrast to the lanthanides, may change drastically from one compound to another. Unfortunately, because of the complexity of the spectra and the low symmetry of many of the complexes, spectra are not easily used as a means of deducing stereochemistry except when used as fingerprints for comparison with spectra of previously characterized compounds. However, the dependence on ligand concentration of the positions and intensities, especially of the charge-transfer bands, can profitably be used to estimate stability constants. 

The very useful lanthanide shift reagents, which facilitate analysis of molecular stereochemistry because of their line-broadening characteristics in NMR spectra, were studied when bound as a chelate complex to thietanes. X-Ray analysis of the adduct 3,3-dimethylthietane 1-oxide with tris(dipivalo-methanato)europium(III) [Eu(dpm)3] revealed the structure of a seven-coordinate complex (271). ... 

The basis for applying the LIS quantitatively to problems in stereochemistry depends upon expressions including the term (3 cos2 — l)r-3, where r is the distance from the carbon to the lanthanide ion and the angle d is defined by the symmetry axis of the complex and the vector from the lanthanide ion to the carbon in question. This application depends on a LIS imposed entirely by the pseudocontact mechanism. It has been shown that the contact mechanism is important for europium and praseodymium complexes in 13C NMR for distances up to four bonds from the site of complexation, and that ytterbium complexes interact with 13C nuclei largely, if not entirely, by the pseudocontact process. (12, 13)... 

Upon complexation with a lanthanide ion, these complexes may form square antiprism or twisted square antiprism (TS APR) structures with a vacant coordination site in the cap position, which is assumed to be occupied by a solvent molecule. Just as in the chelated complexes described previously, two distinct types of chiral stereochemistry are present. In analogy with OC-6 species, the sense of rotation of the pendant arms is denoted as A or A depending upon if the arms rotate clockwise (A) or counterclockwise (A) as one proceeds down the direction of the C4 axis. There is also chirality (or helicity) associated with the nonplanar 12-membered ring. If one looks along the skew-line connecting the coordinated nitrogens, the carbon atoms... 

Lanthanide(III) complexes demand special attention in view of the specific spectra-structure relationship for biological applications, chiral catalysis, molecular magnetism and luminescence. One unique chiral stereochemistry is realized by the combination of labile Ln complexes and weak Na+-fluorocarbon interactionwhich show intense CD (circular dichroism) with variation of Ln(III) and/or M(I) ions to chiroptical spectra-structure relations and an important role in configurational chirality for chemical sensors, NMR shift reagents or chiral catalysis. Trivalent lanthanides are also found to be incorporated into heterobimetallic complexes showing intramolecular energy transfer processes. 

Stable metal complexes can be favorably formed when a bidentate metal-binding site is available, such as a- and -diketone moieties which are the tautomeric forms of a- and /3-ketoenols. Some /S-diketonate complexes of paramagnetic lanthanides such as Pr(III), Eu(III) and Yb(III) have been extensively utilized as paramagnetic shift reagents for structural assignment of molecules with complicated stereochemistry prior to 2D techniques in NMR spectroscopy. Their syntheses and application are discussed in separate chapters in this volume. The examples below provide some dynamic and structural basis for better understanding of metal enolates in biomolecules and biochemical processes. 

Mechanistically, the cycloaddition reaction is rather complex. Depending on the catalyst or solvent used and the reaction substrates, pericyclic and/or Mukaiyama aldol-like pathways may be involved.43 The pericyclic mechanism, generally favored by zinc chloride and the lanthanide catalysts, tends to produce adducts having the cis relative stereochemistry at C-5,6. It is assumed that chelation of the aldehyde with the Lewis acid occurs in an anti fashion and that the steric bulk of R is less than that of the Lewis acid-solvent complex L [Eq. (11)], thus favoring a Diels-Alder transition state with R endo. 

The coordination numbers and stereochemistry of the ions are given in Table 27-3. In both ionic crystals and in complexes, coordination numbers exceeding 6 are the general rule rather than the exception. Indeed the number of lanthanide compounds in which the coordination number of 6 has been unequivocally established is small many complexes that could have been so formulated are known to have solvent molecules bound to the metal, leading... 

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