The synthesis and pH-dependent behaviour of Re(CO)3 conjugates with diimine phenolic ligands.

In this report we present a study of a series of Re(CO)3 pyridine-imine complexes with pendant phenol groups. We investigated the effects of the position of the phenol hydroxyl group (para, meta or ortho to the imine) on the steric and electronic characteristics of a series of Re(CO)3X(pyca-C6H4OH) compounds, where X = Cl, Br and pyca = pyridine-2-carbaldehyde imine. These compounds can be generated either via ligand synthesis followed by metal chelation (compound 4) or via a one-pot method (compounds 2, 3, 5 and 6). All six compounds show striking differences in pH-dependent UV-visible absorption based on the position of the phenol hydroxyl group.