Annulation of a 1,3-dithiole ring to a sterically hindered o-quinone core. Novel ditopic redox-active ligands.

The fused 1,3-dithiole spacer seems to be very suitable for the functionalization of sterically hindered o-quinones with additional groups capable of coordination of metal ions and/or possessing a redox activity. An effective method for the synthesis of sterically hindered o-quinones containing 1,3-diketonate, dinitrile and p-quinone-methide functional groups at the periphery of the ligand has been developed. The novel compounds have rigid and conjugated structures and exhibit properties typical of o-quinones. A study of their monoreduced semiquinone derivatives reveal that the spin density is delocalized across the whole molecule, including peripheral fragments. The first stable o-quinone derivative bearing an annulated thiete heterocycle has been isolated and characterized.

Redox-Modulations of Photophysical and Single-molecule Magnet Properties in Ytterbium Complexes Involving Extended-TTF Triads.

The reaction between the 2,2'-benzene-1,4-diylbis(6-hydroxy-4,7-di-tert-butyl-1,3-benzodithiol-2-ylium-5-olate triad (H2SQ) and the metallo-precursor [Yb(hfac)3]2H2O led to the formation of a dinuclear coordination complex of formula [Yb2(hfac)6(H2SQ)]0.5CH2Cl2 (H2SQ-Yb). After chemical oxidation of H2SQ in 2,2'-cyclohexa-2,5-diene-1,4-diylidenebis(4,7-di-tert-butyl-1,3-benzodithiole-5,6-dione (Q), the latter triad reacted with the [Yb(hfac)3]2H2O precursor to give the dinuclear complex of formula [Yb2(hfac)6(Q)] (Q-Yb). Both dinuclear compounds have been characterized by X-ray diffraction, DFT optimized structure and electronic absorption spectra. They behaved as field-induced Single-Molecule Magnets (SMMs) nevertheless the chemical oxidation of the semiquinone to quinone moieties accelerated by a factor of five the relaxation time of the magnetization of Q-Yb compared to the one for H2SQ-Yb. The H2SQ triad efficiently sensitized the YbIII luminescence while the chemical oxidation of H2SQ into Q induced strong modification of the absorption properties and thus a quenching of the YbIII luminescence for Q-Yb. In other words, both magnetic modulation and luminescence quenching are reached by the oxidation of the protonated semiquinone into quinone.

Protonated paramagnetic redox forms of di-o-quinone bridged with p-phenylene-extended TTF: A EPR spectroscopy study.

The chemical oxidation and reduction processes of deprotonated, direduced o-quinone-exTTF-o-quinone in protic solvents were studied by EPR spectroscopy. The formation of relatively stable paramagnetic protonated redox forms of the parent triad was very surprising. The character of spin-density distribution in the semiquinone-quinone and semiquinone-catechol redox forms indicates that the p-phenylene-extended tetrathiafulvalene connector provides a quite effective electronic communication channel between dioxolene coordination sites. It was found that the deprotonated, direduced o-quinone-exTTF-o-quinone is capable to reduction of the metal copper in solution. The radical anion species formed in this reaction exists in solution as a solvent-separated ion pair with a copper cation. A character of spin-density distribution in a radical anion species leads to the conclusion that the ligand corresponds to type III of the Robin-Day classification.

Self-assembly of a metal-organic cage-like structure bearing cofacial redox-active bis-(o-semiquinone) copper(II) units.

Ditopic di-o-quinone with a resorcinol bridge exhibits the ability to self-assemble in a reaction with copper, giving a cage-like binuclear complex that, due to the cofacially placed metal ions, is capable of encapsulation of different solvent molecules as guest ligands. Notably, the geometry of the internal cavity of this complex adjusts depending on the coordinating properties of the encapsulated molecule (mono- or bidentate). A feature of this species is that the cage-forming units are copper(II) bis-semiquinonate moieties, capable of undergoing ligand-centered redox transformations. Electrochemical and EPR spectroscopy studies showed that there is a channel for intramolecular electronic exchange interactions between the redox centres of the molecule.

Sterically hindered o-quinone annulated with dithiete: a molecule comprising diolate and dithiolate coordination sites.

A new stable sterically hindered o-quinone annelated with a 1,2-dithiete ring was prepared by using mild conditions. The skeleton of the compound comprises diolate and dithiolate functions that have the potential to bind metals leading to the corresponding complexes. The reactivity of this compound as a ligand with respect to both coordination sites was studied. Reactions with metals indicate that the o-quinone function is reduced in the first stage to give semiquinonate and catecholate complexes. The dithiolate coordination site was involved in the reaction in a few cases only after diolate was bound. A trinuclear manganese complex with coordination on both sites was obtained and characterized by EPR spectroscopy. The electrochemical study of this quinone fused with dithiete is reported.

A single molecule magnet behaviour in a D3h symmetry Dy(III) complex involving a quinone-tetrathiafulvalene-quinone bridge.

A Dy(III)-based dinuclear complex was synthesised and characterised by X-ray diffraction on single crystal and magnetic investigations. Dynamic magnetic measurements reveal a single molecule magnet behaviour for 1 which can be described as two single-ion magnets in a D(3h) local symmetry bridged by an acceptor-donor-acceptor ligand.