Squarate-Tethered Enantiomeric Imido-Pd(II) Cages for Recognition and Separation of Chiral Organic Molecules.

Chiral coordination cages have emerged as an efficient platform for enantioselective processes via host-guest interactions. Here, we report an enantiomeric pair of tetrahedral cages of formula [(Pd3[PO(N(*CH(CH3)Ph)3])4(C4O4)6] supported by chiral tris(imido)phosphate trianions and squarate (C4O4)2- linkers. These cages exhibit unusual coordination isomerism for Pd(II)-linker bonds compared with the other Pd(II) cages of this family. Further, they were employed for the recognition and separation of small chiral molecules containing various functionalities. High enantioselectivities of 67 and 41 were found in the case of R-4-hydroxydihydrofuran-2(3H)-one and S-epichlorohydrin, recognized by the R-isomer of the cage. Chiral separation studies showed remarkable enantiomeric excess values of 93 and 85% for S-epichlorohydrin and R-4-benzyl-2-oxazolidinone, respectively, from their racemic mixtures. These studies showcase the potential of coordination cages for enantioselective applications.

Polyanionic Imido-P(V) Ligands: From Transition Metal Complexes to Coordination Driven Self-Assemblies.

The chemistry of the imido-anions of the main group elements has been studied for more than three decades. The imido (NR)- group is isoelectronic to the oxo (=O) group and can coordinate with metal ions through its lone pairs of electrons. The polyimido-P(V) anions are well explored as they resemble the phosphorus oxo moieties such as H3 PO4 , H2 PO4 - , HPO4 2- and PO4 3- species. These imido anions are typically generated using strong main group organometallic reagents such as n BuLi, Et2 Zn, Me3 Al and n Bu2 Mg, etc. As a result, their coordination chemistry has been restricted to reactions in anhydrous aprotic solvents for a few main group metal ions. This account presents our findings on using certain soft transition metal such Ag(I) and Pd (II) for isolating these imido-P(V) anions as their corresponding self-assembled clusters and cages. Using the various salts of Ag(I) ions in reaction with 2-pyridyl (2 Py) functionalized phosphonium salts and phosphoric triamides, we obtained the mono- and dianionic form of these imido ligands {[P(N2 Py)2 (NH2 Py)2 ]- , [P(N2 Py)2 (NH2 Py)]- , [PO(N2 Py)(NH2 Py)2 ]2- } and derived interesting examples of tri, penta, hepta and octanuclear Ag(I) clusters. Interestingly, by using the salts of Pd (II) ions, the elusive imido-phosphate trianions of the type [(RN)3 PO]3- (R=t Bu, c Hex, i Pr) were generated in a facile one pot reaction as their corresponding tri- and hexanuclear clusters of the type {Pd3 [(NR)3 PO](OAc)3 }n (n=1 or 2). These trianions acts as a cis-coordinated hexadentate ligand for a trinuclear Pd (II) cluster and serve as the polyhedral building units for constructing hitherto unknown family of neutral cages in tetrahedral {Pd3 [(Ni Pr)3 PO]4 (L)6 } and cubic {Pd3 [(Ni Pr)3 PO]8 (L)12 } structures in the presence of suitable linker ligands (L2- ). These cages show interesting host-guest chemistry and post-assembly reactions. Remarkably, by employing chiral tris(imido)phosphate trianions, enantiopure chiral cages of the type [(Pd3 X*)4 (L)6 ], ([X*]3- =RRR- or SSS-[PO(N(*CH(CH3 )Ph)3 ]3- ), were synthesized and used for the chiral-recognition and enantio-separation of small racemic guest molecules. Some of these chiral cages were also shown to exhibit polyradical framework structures. In future, these and other similar types of cages are envisioned as potential molecular vessels for performing the reactions in their confined environment. The enantiomeric cages can be probed for asymmetric catalysis and the separation of a range of small chiral molecules.

Enantiopure Polyradical Tetrahedral Pd12 L6 Cages.

The synthesis of cages with a polyradical framework remains a challenging task. Herein is reported an enantiomeric pair of quinoid-bridged polyradical tetrahedral palladium(II) cages that are stabilized by an unusual dianionic diradical form (dhbq..2- ). These cages have been characterized by electron paramagnetic resonance and UV-visible spectroscopy, squid magnetometry and mass spectrometry. Single-crystal-derived X-ray investigations of the iso-structural cages built on fluoranilate linkers confirm the tetrahedral structure of the obtained radical cages. Theoretical calculations showed that the diradical state of the dhbq anions is more stable than the usual monoradical state. A weak ferromagnetic exchange between adjacent radical centers was observed in DFT studies.

Effective Enantioselective Recognition by Chiral Amino-Phosphonium Salts*.

The research on chiral recognition and selection is not only fundamental in deciding the mystery of homochirality, but also informative in terms of substrate recognition in biological processes and asymmetric catalysis. We report an enantiomeric pair of phosphonium salts having chiral (R and S) amino substituents that are utilized towards the enantioselective recognition of a variety of chiral compounds having functional groups, such as carboxylic acid, amine, and alcohol. These simple phosphonium salts are found to exhibit a high enantiomeric discrimination for 1-cyclohexylethylamine (CY). A remarkable guest selectivity (ξ) value of 5.3×108 is achieved for the enantiomer of R-CY over S-CY by using the R-isomer of the phosphonium salt. Such high binding selectivities and discrimination capabilities is attributed to multiple non-covalent interactions between the host and guest molecules as inferred from the DFT optimized structures of the host-guest pairs.

Chiral Separation of Styrene Oxides Supported by Enantiomeric Tetrahedral Neutral Pd(II) Cages.

The separation of enantiomers is of considerable importance in the preparation of the compounds of biological interests, catalysis, and drug development. Here, we report a novel enantioseparation of styrene epoxides (SOs) resolved in the presence of a pair of enantio-enriched tetrahedral cages. Chiral neutral cages of formula [(Pd3X*)4(C6O4Cl2)6] ([X*]3- = RRR- or SSS-[PO(N(*CH(CH3)Ph)3]3-) are constructed from Pd3 building units supported by tris(imido)phosphate trianions and chloranilate linkers. These cages exhibit considerable enantioselective separation capabilities toward a series of styrene epoxides via a crystallization inclusion method. A highest enantiomeric excess (ee) value of up to 80% is achieved for the (R)-4-fluorostyrene oxide.

Imido-P(v) trianion supported enantiopure neutral tetrahedral Pd(ii) cages.

Charge-neutral chiral hosts are attractive due to their ability to recognize a wide range of guest functionalities and support enantioselective processes. However, reports on such charge-neutral cages are very scarce in the literature. Here, we report an enantiomeric pair of tetrahedral Pd(ii) cages built from chiral tris(imido)phosphate trianions and oxalate linkers, which exhibit enantioselective separation capabilities for epichlorohydrin, ß-butyrolactone, and 3-methyl- and 3-ethyl cyclopentanone.