Interplay and Competition Between Two Different Types of Redox-Active Ligands in Cobalt Complexes: How to Allocate the Electrons?

The field of molecular transition metal complexes with redox-active ligands is dominated by compounds with one or two units of the same redox-active ligand; complexes in which different redox-active ligands are bound to the same metal are uncommon. This work reports the first molecular coordination compounds in which redox-active bisguanidine or urea azine (biguanidine) ligands as well as oxolene ligands are bound to the same cobalt atom. The combination of two different redox-active ligands leads to mono- as well as unprecedented dinuclear cobalt complexes, being multiple (four or six) center redox systems with intriguing electronic structures, all exhibiting radical ligands. By changing the redox potential of the ligands through derivatisation, the electronic structure of the complexes could be altered in a rational way.

Solvent-Induced Redox Isomerism of Cobalt Complexes with Redox-Active Bisguanidine Ligands.

Redox-isomeric coordination compounds, in which the magnetic and optical properties could be varied by a stimulated intramolecular electron transfer between the metal and a redox-active ligand, are of interest for several applications in catalysis and materials science. In this work, the redox chemistry of cobalt complexes with redox-active bisguanidine ligands is studied; systematic modifications at the redox-active bisguanidine and the co-ligand units allow for fine-tuning of the electronic structure, which eventually leads to the first observation of redox isomerism for cobalt complexes with redox-active guanidine ligands. Redox isomerism is triggered by a change in the solvent properties.

Switching from Metal- to Ligand-Based Oxidation in Cobalt Complexes with Redox-Active Bisguanidine Ligands.

The control of the redox reactivity, magnetic and optical properties of the different redox states of complexes with redox-active ligands permits their rational use in catalysis and materials science. The redox-chemistry of octahedrally coordinated high-spin CoII complexes (three unpaired electrons) with one redox-active bisguanidine ligand and two acetylacetonato (acac) co-ligands is completely changed by replacing the acac by hexafluoro-acetylacetonato (hfacac) co-ligands. The first one-electron oxidation is metal-centered in the case of the complexes with acac co-ligands, giving diamagnetic CoIII complexes. By contrast, in the case of the less Lewis-basic hfacac co-ligands, the first one-electron oxidation becomes ligand-centered, leading to high-spin CoII complexes with a radical monocationic guanidine ligand unit (four unpaired electrons). Ferromagnetic coupling between the spins on the metal and the organic radical in solution is evidenced by temperature-dependent paramagnetic NMR studies, allowing to estimate the isotropic exchange coupling constant in solution. Second one-electron oxidation leads to high-spin CoII complexes with dicationic guanidine ligand units (three unpaired electrons) in the presence of hfacac co-ligands, but to low-spin CoIII complexes with radical monocationic, peralkylated guanidine ligand (one unpaired electron) in the presence of acac co-ligands. The analysis of the electronic structures is complemented by quantum-chemical calculations on the spin density distributions and relative energies of the possible redox isomers.

Stimulation of Redox-Induced Electron Transfer by Interligand Hydrogen Bonding in a Cobalt Complex with Redox-Active Guanidine Ligand.

Octahedrally coordinated cobalt(II) complexes with a redox-active bisguanidine ligand and acac co-ligands were synthesized and their redox chemistry analysed in detail. The N-H functions in a bisguanidine ligand with partially alkylated guanidino groups form N-H⋅⋅⋅O hydrogen bonds with the acac co-ligands, thereby massively influencing the redox chemistry. For all complexes, the first one-electron oxidation is metal-centred, leading to CoIII complexes with neutral bisguanidine ligand units. Further one-electron oxidation is ligand-centred in the case of Co-bisguanidine complexes with fully alkylated guanidino groups, giving CoIII complexes with radical monocationic bisguanidine ligands. On the other hand, the hydrogen-bond strengthening upon oxidation of the Co-bisguanidine complex with partially alkylated guanidino groups initiates metal reduction (CoIII →CoII ) and two-electron oxidation of the guanidine ligand, providing the first example for the stimulation of redox-induced electron transfer by interligand hydrogen bonding.

1,2,5,6-Tetrakis(guanidino)-Naphthalenes: Electron Donors, Fluorescent Probes and Redox-Active Ligands.

New redox-active 1,2,5,6-tetrakis(guanidino)-naphthalene compounds, isolable and storable in the neutral and deep-green dicationic redox states and oxidisable further in two one-electron steps to the tetracations, are reported. Protonation switches on blue fluorescence, with the fluorescence intensity (quantum yield) increasing with the degree of protonation. Reactions with N-halogenosuccinimides or N-halogenophthalimides led to a series of new redox-active halogeno- and succinimido-/phthalimido-substituted derivatives. These highly selective reactions are proposed to proceed via the tri- or tetracationic state as the intermediate. The derivatives are oxidised reversibly at slightly higher potentials than that of the unsubstituted compounds to dications and further to tri- and tetracations. The integration of redox-active ligands in the transition-metal complexes shifts the redox potentials to higher values and also allows reversible oxidation in two potentially separated one-electron steps.