Polyethers alkali metal complexes

To summarize, in this paper we have presented the synthesis of calixcrowns and calix(aza)crowns. Calixcrowns were prepared by a one-pot procedure. Depending on the nature of the reactants and on the experimental conditions one can induce the reaction towards the formation of calix-his-crowns, double calixaienes or double calixcrowns. Alkali metal complexation ability of the calixcrowns was studied and the selectivity of complexation was observed to depend on the number of oxygens in the polyether chain. This fundamental study found an application in the transport of Cs" " through SLMs with selectivity Na" /Cs 1/45 000. 

These critical attributes are necessary if the materials are to be considered as practical replacements for their liquid counterparts. In addition, their properties, particularly conductivity and transport properties, should be sufficiently practical to stimulate their development when compared with other highly conducting solid electrolyte materials. Since 1978, when Michel Armand first introduced polyether-alkali-metal salt complexes to the solid state community as potential materials for electrochemical devices, there has been an enormous amount of research carried out on these (particularly high molecular weight poly(ethylene oxide)-lithium salt) systems, to obtain... 

Poly (macrocyclic) compounds. The analytical application of compounds such as crown polyethers and cryptands is based on their ability to function as ligands and form stable stoichiometric complexes with certain cations. Special importance is due to their preference for alkali metal ions which do not form complexes with many other ligands. A number of these compounds are commercially available and their properties and analytical applications have been described by Cheng et a/.11... 

Novel anions stabilized by alkali-polyether cations The ability of a crown (such as 18-crown-6) or a cryptand (such as 2.2.2) to shield an alkali cation by complex formation has enabled the synthesis of a range of novel compounds containing an alkali metal cation coordinated to a crown or cryptand for which the anion is either a negatively charged alkali metal ion or a single electron (Dye Ellaboudy, 1984 Dye, 1984). Such unusual compounds are called alkalides and electrides , respectively. 

Polyether complexation. The solution of the above problem is to add a suitable crown ether or cryptand to the alkali metal solution. This results in complexation of the alkali cation and apparently engenders sufficient stabilization of the M+ cation for alkalide salts of type M+L.M" (L = crown or cryptand) to form as solids. Thus the existence of such compounds appears to reflect, in part, the ability of the polyether ligands to isolate the positively charged cation from the remainder of the ion pair. 

Crown polyethers. Macrocyclic effects involving complexes of crown polyethers have been well-recognized. As for the all-sulfur donor systems, the study of the macrocyclic effect tends to be more straightforward for complexes of cyclic polyethers especially when simple alkali and alkaline earth cations are involved (Haymore, Lamb, Izatt Christensen, 1982). The advantages include (i) the cyclic polyethers are weak, uncharged bases and metal complexation is not pH dependent (ii) these ligands readily form complexes with the alkali and alkaline earth cations... 

The crowns as model carriers. Many studies involving crown ethers and related ligands have been performed which mimic the ion-transport behaviour of the natural antibiotic carriers (Lamb, Izatt Christensen, 1981). This is not surprising, since clearly the alkali metal chemistry of the cyclic antibiotic molecules parallels in many respects that of the crown ethers towards these metals. As discussed in Chapter 4, complexation of an ion such as sodium or potassium with a crown polyether results in an increase in its lipophilicity (and a concomitant increase in its solubility in non-polar organic solvents). However, even though a ring such as 18-crown-6 binds potassium selectively, this crown is expected to be a less effective ionophore for potassium than the natural systems since the two sides of the crown complex are not as well-protected from the hydro-phobic environment existing in the membrane. 

Electrodes based on solutions of cyclic polyethers in hydrocarbons show a selective response to alkali metal cations. The cyclic structure and physical dimensions of these compounds enable them to surround and replace the hydration shell of the cations and carry them into the membrane phase. Conduction occurs by diffusion of these charged complexes, which constitute a space charge within the membrane. Electrodes with a high selectivity for potassium over sodium (> 1000 1) have been produced. 

Crown ethers are cyclic polyethers designated [n]crown-m where n is the ring size and m the number of oxygen atoms, for instance [18] crown-6 1. They show a high affinity for cationic guest molecules, especially alkali metal cations, where the cation is commonly complexed within the cavity of macrocycle or sand-... 

Impetus was given to work in the field of selective cation complex-ation by the observation of Moore and Pressman (5) in 1964 that the macrocyclic antibiotic valinomycin is capable of actively transporting K+ across mitochondrial membranes. This observation has been confirmed and extended to numerous macrocyclic compounds. There is now an extensive literature on the selective complexation and transport of alkali metal ions by various macrocyclic compounds (e.g., valinomycin, mo-nactin, etc.) (2). From solution spectral (6) and crystal X-ray (7) studies we know that in these complexes the alkali metal cation is situated in the center of the inwardly oriented oxygen donor atoms. Similar results are found from X-ray studies of cyclic polyether complexes of alkali metal ions (8) and barium ion (9). These metal macrocyclic compound systems are especially noteworthy since they involve some of the few cases where alkali metal ions participate in complex ion formation in aqueous solution. 

Dioxane and Water. Grunwald and co-workers (GBK) (7) used a vapor pressure method to obtain the differential of the free energy of transfer of a solute with respect to solvent mole fraction at 50 wt% dioxane. On the basis of what has now become known as the large-ion assumption (8), they separated cation and anion effects by equating the free energies of transfer for tetraphenylborate and tetraphenylphosphonium ions. They concluded that Na+ was preferentially solvated by dioxane, a surprising result then, but less unexpected now that complexes of the alkali metals with polyethers have been discovered (dioxane... 

In the Ba2+ complex with (145), two anions coordinate to the cation in different ways (Figure 32b). The metal ion sits primarily in a cavity provided by one of the anions and is six-coordinated by two ether, two hydroxy, one keto and one carboxylate oxygen atoms. A nine-fold coordination is completed by further coordination to two oxygen atoms from the second anion and a water molecule. 73 A review of the structures of polyether antibiotic complexes is available and includes a compilation of structural data.372 The stoichiometries of alkali and alkaline earth complexes of (145) in methanol, have been determined potentiometri-cally and show 1 1 neutral complexes for the alkali metal cations, and high stability 1 1 (charged) and 1 2 (neutral) complexes for the alkaline earth cations.574... 

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