1,1'-Biisoquinolines-Neglected Ligands in the Heterocyclic Diimine Family That Provoke Stereochemical Reflections

Edwin C Constable; Richard M Hartshorn; Catherine E Housecroft

doi:10.3390/molecules26061584

1,1'-Biisoquinolines-Neglected Ligands in the Heterocyclic Diimine Family That Provoke Stereochemical Reflections

Molecules. 2021 Mar 13;26(6):1584. doi: 10.3390/molecules26061584.

Authors

Edwin C Constable¹, Richard M Hartshorn², Catherine E Housecroft¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, University of Basel, BPR 1096, Mattenstrasse 24a, CH-4058 Basel, Switzerland.
² School of Physical and Chemical Sciences, University of Canterbury, CT1 1PL Christchurch, New Zealand.

Abstract

1,1'-Biisoquinolines are a class of bidentate nitrogen donor ligands in the heterocyclic diimine family. This review briefly discusses their properties and the key synthetic pathways available and then concentrates upon their coordination behaviour. The ligands are of interest as they exhibit the phenomenon of atropisomerism (hindered rotation about the C1-C1' bond). A notation for depicting the stereochemistry in coordination compounds containing multiple stereogenic centers is developed. The consequences of the chirality within the ligand on the coordination behaviour is discussed in detail.

Keywords: 1,1′-biisoquinoline; Ligand; atropisomerism; bidentate; chirality; stereochemical nomenclature.

Publication types

Review