I. Gryca

High Catalytic Activity of Vanadium Complexes in Alkane Oxidations with Hydrogen Peroxide: An Effect of 8-Hydroxyquinoline Derivatives as Noninnocent Ligands

Five monomeric oxovanadium(V) complexes [VO(OMe)(N∩O)2] with the nitro or halogen substituted quinolin-8-olate ligands were synthesized and characterized using Fourier transform infrared, 1H and 13C NMR, high-resolution mass spectrometry-electrospray ionization as well as X-ray diffraction and UV-vis spectroscopy. These complexes exhibit high catalytic activity toward oxidation of inert alkanes to alkyl hydroperoxides by H2O2 in aqueous acetonitrile with the yield of oxygenate products up to 39% and turnover number 1780 for 1 h. The experimental kinetic study, the C6D12 and 18O2 labeled experiments, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations allowed to propose the reaction mechanism, which includes the formation of HO· radicals as active oxidizing species. The mechanism of the HO· formation appears to be different from those usually accepted for the Fenton or Fenton-like systems. The activation of H2O2 toward homolysis occurs upon simple coordination of hydrogen peroxide to the metal center of the catalyst molecule and does not require the change of the metal oxidation state and formation of the HOO· radical. Such an activation is associated with the redox-active nature of the quinolin-8-olate ligands. The experimentally determined activation energy for the oxidation of cyclohexane with complex [VO(OCH3)(5-Cl-quin)2] (quin = quinolin-8-olate) is 23 ± 3 kcal/mol correlating well with the estimate obtained from the DFT calculations.

Synthesis, crystal structure and magnetic properties of H2tppz[ReCl6] and [Cu(bpzm)2(μ-Cl)ReCl3(μ-ox)Cu(bpzm)2(μ-ox)ReCl3(μ-Cl)]n

Two new Re(iv) compounds of formulae H2tppz[ReCl6] (1) and [Cu(bpzm)2(μ-Cl)ReCl3(μ-ox)Cu(bpzm)2(μ-ox)ReCl3(μ-Cl)]n (2) [tppz = 2,3,5,6-tetrakis(2-pyridyl)pyrazine and bpzm = bis(pyrazolyl-1-yl)methane] have been prepared and their crystal structures determined by X-ray diffraction on single crystals. Compound 1 is a mononuclear species whose structure consists of octahedral hexachlororhenate(iv) anions and diprotonated H2tppz(2+) cations which are arranged in the unit cell as alternating anionic and cationic layers, held together by electrostatic forces. The structure of 2 is made up of alternating [Cu(1)(bpzm)2](2+) and [(ox)ReCl3(μ-Cl)Cu(2)(bpzm)2(μ-Cl)ReCl3(ox)](2-) entities interlinked by oxalate bridges to afford a neutral heterobimetallic chain. The oxalate group adopts the didentate (at Re)/monodentate (at Cu) bridging mode. The magnetic behavior of 1 and 2 has been investigated over the temperature range 1.9-295 K. 1 is a magnetically diluted Re(iv) complex, the relatively large value of the zero-field splitting of the ground level [D = -15.8(2) cm(-1)] accounting for the variation of χMT in the low temperature range. Weak intrachain ferromagnetic interactions between Re(iv) and Cu(ii) through oxalate (J1 = +0.15 cm(-1)) and single chloro (J2 = +4.9 cm(-1)) bridges occur in 2 which are obscured by the large zero-field splitting of the Re(iv) ion (DRe = 42 cm(-1)). In addition, interchain antiferromagnetic interactions are also involved in 2 which are responsible for the metamagnetic behavior observed, the value of the critical dc magnetic field (Hc) being 20 kOe.

Luminescent-Substituted Fluoranthenes-Synthesis, Structure, Electrochemistry, and Optical Properties

Six novel fluoranthene derivatives, namely, three terminally substituted and three bis(fluoranthene) units with fluorene, bithiophene, and carbazole spacers, were obtained through [2+2+2] cycloaddition and characterized completely. Based on the conducted studies, the obtained derivatives can be classified as donor-acceptor (D-A) and acceptor-donor-acceptor (A-D-A) systems, in which the fluoranthene unit acts as an electron-withdrawing unit. The optical results revealed that novel fluoranthene derivatives absorb light in the range λ=236-417 nm, which originates from a π→π* transition within the conjugated system. The compounds exhibit fluorescence that range from deep blue to green, which mainly arises from intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) states. High Stoke shifts and high quantum yields in solution (ϕ=0.22-0.57) and in the solid state (ϕ=0.18-0.44) have been observed for fluoranthene derivatives. All the derivatives display multistep oxidation processes at low potentials. The electronic structure of the presented compounds is additionally supported by time-dependent DFT computations.

Synthesis, crystal structure and magnetic properties of the complex [ReCl3(tppz)]·MeCN

The reaction of the starting materials [ReIIICl3(MeCN)(PPh3)2] or [ReVOCl3(PPh3)2] with 2,3,5,6-tetrakis(2-pyridyl)pyrazine (tppz) in acetonitrile yielded the Re(III) complex [ReCl3(tppz)]·MeCN (1). This complex crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P21/n and its crystal structure consists of neutral mononuclear entities with meridional geometry of the chloride ligands, and the six-coordination of the Re(III) ion being completed by the tridentate tppz ligand. Each metal centre exhibits a highly distorted octahedral coordination with Re–Cl and Re–Ntppz bond lengths covering the ranges 2.3590(9)–2.3606(8) and 1.971(2)–2.096(2) A, respectively. The magnetic properties of 1 have been investigated in the temperature range 1.9–290 K. They are characteristic of a six-coordinate Re(III) mononuclear complex with d4 low-spin (3T1 ground state). The magnetic data of 1 are discussed through a deep analysis of the influence of the ligand-field, spin–orbit coupling, tetragonal distortion and covalency effects. The second-order Zeeman effect between the non-magnetic ground state (MJ = 0) and higher energy levels (MJ ≠ 0) determines the magnetic susceptibility of 1, the value of the temperature-independent paramagnetic susceptibility being 3378 × 10−6 cm3 mol−1. This value compares well with those reported for other structurally characterized Re(III) complexes.