Sodium crown ether complexes

Sodiuim bexakis(formato)molybdate, 1235 Sodium complexes crown ethers, 37 Sodium molybdate, 1230 Sodium peroxoborate, 101 Sodium/potassium ATPase vanadate inhibition, 567 Sodium pyroantimonate, 265 Sodium tetrahydroborate, 101... 

In 1967, DuPont chemist Charles J. Pedersen (21) discovered a class of ligands capable of complexing alkaU metal cations, a discovery which led to the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1987. These compounds, known as crown ethers or cryptands, allow gready enhanced solubiUty of sodium and other alkaU metals in amines and ethers. About 50 crown ethers having between 9—60 membered oligoether rings were described (22). Two such stmctures, dibenzo-18-crown-6 (1) and benzo-9-crown-3 (2), are shown. 

Frensch and Vdgtle have recently appended three crown ether units to the cyclo-triveratrylene unit . Note that Hyatt had previously prepared the open-chained relatives of this structure (see Sect. 7.3 and Eq. 7.6). Whereas Hyatt prepared the cyclo-triveratrylene skeleton and then appended polyethyleneoxy arms to it, Frensch and Vogtle conducted the condensation reaction (formaldehyde/HCl) on the preformed benzocrown. Thus benzo-15-crown-5 was converted into the corresponding tris-crown (IS) (mp 203.5—205.5°) in 4% yield. The yield was somewhat higher for the condensation of benzo-18-crown-6, but in both cases, yield ranges were observed. These species formed 1 3 (ligand/salt) complexes with sodium and potassium ions. 

Figure 4.11 Molecular structures of typical crown-ether complexes with alkali metal cations (a) sodium-water-benzo-I5-crown-5 showing pentagonal-pyramidal coordination of Na by 6 oxygen atoms (b) 18-crown-6-potassium-ethyl acetoacetate enolate showing unsymmelrical coordination of K by 8 oxygen atoms and (c) the RbNCS ion pair coordinated by dibenzo-I8-crown-6 to give seven-fold coordination about Rb.

Charge transfer reactions at ITIES include both ET reactions and ion transfer (IT) reactions. One question that may be addressed by nonlinear optics is the problem of the surface excess concentration during the IT reaction. Preliminary experiments have been reported for the IT reaction of sodium assisted by the crown ether ligand 4-nitro-benzo-15-crown-5 [104]. In the absence of sodium, the adsorption from the organic phase and the reorientation of the neutral crown ether at the interface has been observed. In the presence of the sodium ion, the problem is complicated by the complex formation between the crown ether and sodium. The SH response observed as a function of the applied potential clearly exhibited features related to the different steps in the mechanisms of the assisted ion transfer reaction although a clear relationship is difficult to establish as the ion transfer itself may be convoluted with monolayer rearrangements like reorientation. 

A typical phase transfer catalytic reaction of the liquid/liquid type is the cyanation of an alkyl halide in an organic phase using sodium or potassium cyanide in an aqueous phase. When these phases are stirred and heated together very little reaction occurs. However, addition of a small amount of crown ether (or cryptand) results in the reaction occurring to yield the required nitrile. The crown serves to transport the cyanide ion, as its ion pair with the complexed potassium cation, into the organic phase allowing the reaction to proceed. 

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. 

For sodium and potassium chalcogenolates, donor influence on structural pattern has been explored with a special emphasis in donor hapticity. Thus, crown ether complexation allows the isolation of monomeric species, such as [K(SCPh3)(18-crown-6)Lra] (L=thf, CgH6, hmpa, n = 0.5 L=toluene, n = l),36 [K(SMes )(dibenzo-18-crown-6)(thf)],45 [K(STrip)(dibenzo-18-crown-... 

The proportion of the /rans-O-alkylated product [101] increases in the order no ligand < 18-crown-6 < [2.2.2]-cryptand. This difference was attributed to the fact that the enolate anion in a crown-ether complex is still capable of interacting with the cation, which stabilizes conformation [96]. For the cryptate, however, cation-anion interactions are less likely and electrostatic repulsion will force the anion to adopt conformation [99], which is the same as that of the free anion in DMSO. This explanation was substantiated by the fact that the anion was found to have structure [96] in the solid state of the potassium acetoacetate complex of 18-crown-6 (Cambillau et al., 1978). Using 23Na NMR, Cornelis et al. (1978) have recently concluded that the active nucleophilic species is the ion pair formed between 18-crown-6 and sodium ethyl acetoacetate, in which Na+ is co-ordinated to both the anion and the ligand. 

The bisanthraceno-crown ether E-l (Figure 10.26) exhibits a fluorescence spectrum composed of the characteristic monomer and excimer bands. Gradual addition of sodium perchlorate to a solution in methanol induces a decrease in the monomer band and an increase in the excimer band. Complexation is indeed expected to bring closer together the two anthracene units, which favors excimer formation. A 2 1 (metabligand) complex is formed with Na+ in methanol and acetonitrile with a positive cooperative effect (see Appendix B). Interestingly, the overall stability constant obtained from absorption data was found to be lower than that... 

Initially, on addition of sodium cations to a solution of the ligand, two distinct CV waves were observed, corresponding to the uncomplexed and complexed compound [1] (Fig. 4) (Chariot et al., 1962). Hie wave at the higher positive potential corresponds to the solution complexed species. Hie oxidized ferrocene crown ether has a lower binding constant with sodium than the... 

FABMS has been used as a semiquantitative indication of the selectivity of receptors for particular guest metal cations (Johnstone and Rose, 1983). The FABMS competition experiment on [7] with equimolar amounts of the nitrates of sodium, potassium, rubidium and caesium gave gas-phase complex ions of ([7] + K)+ ion (m/z 809) and a minor peak ([7] + Rb)+ ion (m/z 855) exclusively. The relative peak intensities therefore suggested a selectivity order of K+ Rb+ Na+, Cs+, indicative of the bis-crown effect, the ability of bis-crown ether ligands to complex a metal cation of size larger than the cavity of a single crown ether unit, forming a sandwich structure. 

The conjugation in the molecular wire may be disrupted or modulated to create systems with different properties. For example, a porphyrin Ceo donor-acceptor system linked with a conjugated binaphthyl unit, has a preference for the atropi-somer where the fullerene unit is closer to the porphyrin system, thus increasing the through space interactions [82]. The charge transfer process on a dyad containing a crown ether in the linker structure can be modulated by complexation/ decomplexation of sodium cations [83] but even more interesting is the construction of supramolecular systems where the donor and acceptor moieties are... 

While high polymers of /3-lactones can also be formed by cationic polymerization, most of the commercial production seems to be by the anionic route. Carboxylate salts such as sodium acetate or benzoate are commonly the initiators, but other nucleophiles, such as triethylamine, betaine, potassium f-butoxide, aluminum and zinc alkoxides, various metal oxides and tris(dimethylamino)benzylphosphonium chloride (the anion of which is the initiator), are of value. Addition of crown ethers to complex the counter cation increases the rate of reaction. When the reaction is carried out in inert but somewhat polar organic solvents, such as THF or ethyk acetate, or without solvent, chain propagation is very fast and proceeds without transfer reactions. 

---