A cobalt(III)-salen complex with an axial substituent in the diamine backbone: stereoselective recognition of amino alcohols.

A cobalt(III)-salen complex (3) with an axial substituent on the diamine backbone has been synthesized. Crystal structure reveals that the axial substituent (p-nitrophenyl group) is positioned in close proximity to the metal binding site. The stereoselectivity of the cobalt complex for binding amino alcohols increases with increasing steric bulk of the amino alcohol from alaninol (2.9) to valinol (6.2) and t-leucinol (36.0).