Redox-controlled hydrogen bonding: turning a superbase into a strong hydrogen-bond donor

On the metal-ligand bonding in dinuclear complexes with redox-active guanidine ligands

Coordination compounds with redox-active ligands are currently intensively studied. Within this research theme, redox-active guanidines have been established as a new, eminent class of redox-active ligands. In this work the variation of metal-guanidine bonding in dinuclear transition metal complexes with bridging redox-active tetrakisguanidine ligands is analysed. A series of dinuclear complexes with different metals (Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu and Zn) is synthesized, using either newly prepared redox-active tetrakisguanidino-dioxine or previously reported tetrakisguanidino-benzene ligands. The discussion of the bond properties in this work is predominantly based on the trends of structural parameters, derived from determination of single-crystal structures by X-ray diffraction and quantum chemical calculations. In addition, the trends in the redox potentials and magnetometric (SQUID) measurements on some of the complexes are included. Due to their combined σ- and π-electron donor capability, redox-active guanidine ligands are weak-field ligands; the σ- and π-bonding contributions vary with the metal. The results highlight the peculiarity of copper-guanidine bonding with a high π-bond contribution to metal-guanidine bonding, enabled by structural distortion of the coordination mode from tetrahedral in the direction of square-planar, short copper-guanidine bonds and minor displacement of the copper atoms from the ligand aromatic plane.

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 Co^II 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 Co^III 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 Co^II 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 Co^II complexes with dicationic guanidine ligand units (three unpaired electrons) in the presence of hfacac co‐ligands, but to low‐spin Co^III 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.

Molecular Mechanisms on the Selectivity Enhancement of Ascorbic Acid, Dopamine, and Uric Acid by Serine Oligomers Decoration on Graphene Oxide: A Molecular Dynamics Study

The selectivity in the simultaneous detection of ascorbic acid (AA), dopamine (DA), and uric acid (UA) has been an open problem in the biosensing field. Many surface modification methods were carried out for glassy carbon electrodes (GCE), including the use of graphene oxide and amino acids as a selective layer. In this work, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed to investigate the role of serine oligomers on the selectivity of the AA, DA, and UA analytes. Our models consisted of a graphene oxide (GO) sheet under a solvent environment. Serine tetramers were added into the simulation box and were adsorbed on the GO surface. Then, the adsorption of each analyte on the mixed surface was monitored from MD trajectories. It was found that the adsorption of AA was preferred by serine oligomers due to the largest number of hydrogen-bond forming functional groups of AA, causing a 10-fold increase of hydrogen bonds by the tetraserine adsorption layer. UA was the least preferred due to its highest aromaticity. Finally, the role of hydrogen bonds on the electron transfer selectivity of biosensors was discussed with some previous studies. AA radicals received electrons from serine through hydrogen bonds that promoted oxidation reaction and caused the negative shifts and separation of the oxidation potential in experiments, as DA and UA were less affected by serine. Agreement of the in vitro and in silico results could lead to other in silico designs of selective layers to detect other types of analyte molecules.

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 Co^III 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 Co^III 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 (Co^III→Co^II) and two‐electron oxidation of the guanidine ligand, providing the first example for the stimulation of redox‐induced electron transfer by interligand hydrogen bonding.

1,2,4,5-Tetrakis(tetramethylguanidino)-3,6-diethynyl-benzenes: Fluorescent Probes, Redox-Active Ligands and Strong Organic Electron Donors

In this work, the change of reactivity induced by the introduction of two para-ethynyl substituents (CCSi(iPr)3 or CCH) to the organic electron-donor 1,2,4,5-tetrakis(tetramethylguanidino)-benzene is evaluated. The redox-properties and redox-state dependent fluorescence are evaluated, and dinuclear CuI and CuII complexes synthesized. The Lewis-acidic B(C6 F5 )3 substitutes the proton of the ethynyl -CCH groups to give new anionic -CCB(C6 F5 )3 - substituents, leading eventually to a novel dianionic strong electron donor in its diprotonated form. Its two-electron oxidation with dioxygen in the presence of a copper catalyst yields the first redox-active guanidine that is neutral (instead of cationic) in its oxidized form.

N-Heterocyclic Carbene Adducts of Main Group Elements and Their Use as Ligands in Transition Metal Chemistry

N-Heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) are nowadays ubiquitous and indispensable in many research fields, and it is not possible to imagine modern transition metal and main group element chemistry without the plethora of available NHCs with tailor-made electronic and steric properties. While their suitability to act as strong ligands toward transition metals has led to numerous applications of NHC complexes in homogeneous catalysis, their strong σ-donating and adaptable π-accepting abilities have also contributed to an impressive vitalization of main group chemistry with the isolation and characterization of NHC adducts of almost any element. Formally, NHC coordination to Lewis acids affords a transfer of nucleophilicity from the carbene carbon atom to the attached exocyclic moiety, and low-valent and low-coordinate adducts of the p-block elements with available lone pairs and/or polarized carbon-element π-bonds are able to act themselves as Lewis basic donor ligands toward transition metals. Accordingly, the availability of a large number of novel NHC adducts has not only produced new varieties of already existing ligand classes but has also allowed establishment of numerous complexes with unusual and often unprecedented element-metal bonds. This review aims at summarizing this development comprehensively and covers the usage of N-heterocyclic carbene adducts of the p-block elements as ligands in transition metal chemistry.

Counter-ligand control of the electronic structure in dinuclear copper-tetrakisguanidine complexes

Decision-making counter-ligands: a bridging redox-active ligand in a dinuclear copper complex could be either neutral (complex type [Cu^II-GFA-Cu^II]) or dicationic (complex type [Cu^I-GFA-Cu^I]), depending on the nature of the counter-ligands X.

Stabilization of Complexes of Redox-Active Guanidino-Functionalized Aromatic Compounds (GFAs) by Hydrogen-Bonding

The guanidino-functionalized 1,2,4,5-tetrakis(N,N′-diisopropylguanidino)benzene could act as a redox-active switch, and reversibly forms hydrogen-bond aggregates upon two-electron oxidation. Herein the influence of hydrogen bonding on the structure and electronic properties of the first transition metal complexes of the neutral and oxidized compound are studied. Reaction with CuCl2 leads by coupled redox- and coordination processes to a dinuclear CuII complex of the dicationic guanidine, in which CuCl2– counterions are locked through strong hydrogen-bonds in positions above and below the C6 ring plane. The electronic situation in the electronic ground and excited states of this complex were analysed by quantum chemical calculations.