The formazanate ligand as an electron reservoir: bis(formazanate) zinc complexes isolated in three redox states.

The synthesis of bis(formazanate) zinc complexes is described. These complexes have well-behaved redox-chemistry, with the ligands functioning as a reversible electron reservoir. This allows the synthesis of bis(formazanate) zinc compounds in three redox states in which the formazanate ligands are reduced to "metallaverdazyl" radicals. The stability of these ligand-based radicals is a result of the delocalization of the unpaired electron over four nitrogen atoms in the ligand backbone. The neutral, anionic, and dianionic compounds (L2 Zn(0/-1/-2)) were fully characterized by single-crystal X-ray crystallography, spectroscopic methods, and DFT calculations. In these complexes, the structural features of the formazanate ligands are very similar to well-known ß-diketiminates, but the nitrogen-rich (NNCNN) backbone of formazanates opens the door to redox-chemistry that is otherwise not easily accessible.

Electrochemistry of Au(II) and Au(III) pincer complexes: determination of the Au(II)-Au(II) bond energy.

The bond energy of the unsupported Au-Au bond in the Au(ii) dimer [(C(∧)N(∧)C)Au]2 and the difference between Au(III)-OH and Au(III)-H bond enthalpies have been determined experimentally by electrochemical methods, with Au-OH and Au-H complexes showing unexpected differences in their reduction pathways, supported by DFT modelling.