Boron templated catechol phosphines as bidentate ligands in silver complexes

Dalton Trans. 2007 Sep 21:(35):3906-13. doi: 10.1039/b708252e. Epub 2007 Jul 27.

Abstract

Reaction of 3-[(diphenylphosphinyl)methyl]benzene-1,2-diol (1) and 4-[(diphenylphosphinyl)methyl]benzene-1,2-diol (2) with AgOTf or B(OH)3 produced the bis-phosphine complexes 4, 5, or the borates 6, 7, respectively. All products were characterised by analytical and spectroscopic data and single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies. The anionic assembly 6 was shown to act as a template-based chelate ligand toward Ag+ by forming a neutral complex 8 of composition [(6)Ag] with AgOTf. Spectroscopic and single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies revealed the presence of a kinetically very stable and conformationally rigid chelate that is best described as a bis-phosphine silver complex with a distinctly non-linear P-Ag-P array and two further secondary Ag-O interactions. Reaction of 7 with AgOTf proceeded in a 2 : 2 molar ratio to give a dimeric product 9 which was, on the basis of spectroscopic data, formulated as a macrocycle of composition [(7)(2)Ag2]. The different molecular sizes of 8 and 9 was underlined by PGSE NMR measurements which gave further evidence for the formation of solvent adducts between the chelate complex 8 and DMF. Analysis of the 1H,109Ag HMQC NMR spectra of 8 provided evidence for a dependence of the 3J(Ag,H) coupling on torsional angles which resembles a Karplus-type relationship.