Selenium coordination geometries

Table 16.3 Coordination geometries of selenium, tellurium and polonium...

One reason for the relatively large RMS deviations, compared to the active sites of MMO and RNR, is that the active-site residues are not coordinated to the selenium (see Figure 2-8). The lack of a structural anchor leads to a relatively unstable active-site geometry. An alternative formulation is that the presence of a metal center with strong ligand interactions is one reason the active-site model works comparatively well for many metal enzymes. 

Some O-Se ligands are also known. A -, A--diet lr y 1 - A"- benzoy 1 se 1 eno ureato zinc has been characterized where the zinc is bidentately coordinated to the two ligands through the oxygen and selenium atoms, forming a distorted tetrahedral geometry.859... 

The reaction of dabco (l,4-diazobicyclo[2.2.2]octane) with Me2Cd yields a 1 1 adduct 197, which adopts a linear polymeric structure (Figure 34).255 The cadmium atom is coordinated by two dabco units and two methyl carbon atoms giving rise to a distorted tetrahedral environment. Finally, the organocadmium adduct 198 (Figure 35) has been isolated from the reaction of Me2Cd with Cd[(SeP-/-Pr2)2N]2.256 The solid-state structure consists of dimeric units where each methylcadmium unit is coordinated to three selenium atoms. The geometry about the cadmium center is tetrahedral with a Cd-C distance of 2.16 A, which is comparable to that observed in other cadmium alkyl complexes. 

As an alternative to hydrozirconation of acetylenic tellurides or selenides, Dabdoub and co-workers have more recently described the first additions of the Schwartz reagent (one equivalent) to acetylenic selenide salts 51 (Scheme 4.30) [52]. Subsequent alkylation at selenium produces 1,1-dimetallo intermediates 52, which are cleanly converted in a one-pot process to stereodefined products 53. It is noteworthy that ketene derivatives 52 are of ( )-geometry, the opposite regiochemistry to that which results from hydrozirconation of acetylenic tellurides (vide supra). This new route also avoids the mixtures of regio-isomers observed when seleno ethers are used as educts. The explanation for the stoichiometric use of Cp2Zr(H)Cl in these reactions, in contrast to the requirement for two equivalents with seleno ethers, may be based on cyclic intermediates 54, in which Li—Cl coordination provides an additional driving force. Curiously, attempted hydrozirconation of the corresponding telluride salt 55 under similar conditions was unsuccessful (Scheme 4.31) (Procedure 12, p. 143). 

---