Oxidorhenium(V) Complexes with Tetradentate Iminophenolate Ligands: Influence of Ligand Flexibility on the Coordination Motif and Oxygen-Atom-Transfer Activity.

The synthesis of oxidorhenium(V) complexes 1-3 coordinated by tetradentate iminophenolate ligands H2L1-H2L3 bearing backbones of different rigidity (alkyl, cycloalkyl, and phenyl bridges) allows for the formation of distinct geometric isomers, including a symmetric trans-oxidochlorido coordination motif in complex 3. The complex employing a cycloalkyl-bridged ligand (2) of intermediate rigidity exhibits an interesting solvent- and temperature-dependent equilibrium between a symmetric (trans) isomer and an asymmetric (cis) isomer in solution. The occurrence of a symmetric isomer for 2 and 3 is confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Chlorido abstraction from 2 with AgOTf yields the corresponding cationic complex 2a, which does not exhibit an isomeric equilibrium in solution but adopts the isomeric form predominant for 2 in a given solvent. All complexes were, furthermore, employed in three benchmark oxygen-atom-transfer (OAT) reactions, namely, the reduction of perchlorate, the epoxidation of cyclooctene, and OAT from dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) to triphenylphosphane (PPh3), to assess the influence of the isomeric structure on the reactivity in these reactions. In perchlorate reduction, a clear structural influence was observed, where the trans arrangement in 3 led to the complete absence of activity. In the epoxidation reaction, all complexes led to comparable epoxide yields, albeit higher catalytic activity but lower overall stability of the catalysts with a trans arrangement was observed. In OAT from DMSO to PPh3, also a clear structural dependence was observed, where the trans complex 3 led to full phosphane conversion with an excess of oxidant, while the cis compound 1 was completely inactive.