RESUMO
The substitution of a pyrrolide ring for one (or more) pyridyl rings within the ubiquitous terpyridine (tpy, A) scaffold results in more open geometries of the pyridine-pyrrolide chelate ligands. DFT calculations (B3LYP-GD3BJ/6-31G**) demonstrate that the more open geometries of the unbound ligands are mismatched with the "pinched in" geometries required to chelate transition metal ions (e.g., Zn2+). The strain which builds within these ligands (Δ EL(strain)) as they bind transition metal ions can be related to changes in a single geometric parameter: the separation between the two terminal N atoms (ρ). This relationship applies more generally to other three-ringed tridentate pincer ligands, including those with different donor groups. The approach was applied to homoleptic iron(II) complexes to investigate the contribution of the steric effects operating within the ligands to the different magnetic properties, including spin crossover (SCO) activities, of these systems.
RESUMO
A range of substituted benzhydrols and fluorenols were prepared and subjected to acid catalysed methanolysis. Analysis of the rates of each of these processes showed correlation with Hammett σ(+) parameters as is consistent with the significant build-up of positive charge adjacent to the ring. In combination with the similarity of the electronic susceptibility of the processes, these data suggest that both reactions proceed through a unimolecular rate-determining step. This shows that the effect of fusion of the phenyl systems (and hence potentially introducing an antiaromatic carbocation intermediate) is only to slow the rate of reaction rather than change the mechanism of the process.
