Spontaneous Resolution by Crystallization of an Octanuclear Iron(III) Complex Using Only Racemic Reagents

Konstantinos A Lazarou; Karilys González-Nieves; Indranil Chakraborty; Raphael G Raptis

doi:10.1002/anie.201901877

Spontaneous Resolution by Crystallization of an Octanuclear Iron(III) Complex Using Only Racemic Reagents

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2019 May 27;58(22):7324-7328. doi: 10.1002/anie.201901877. Epub 2019 Apr 17.

Authors

Konstantinos A Lazarou¹, Karilys González-Nieves², Indranil Chakraborty¹, Raphael G Raptis¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the Biomolecular Sciences Institute, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8th Street, Miami, FL, 33199, USA.
² Department of Natural Sciences, University of Puerto Rico at Carolina, PO Box 4800, Carolina, PR, 00984, USA.

PMID: 30891840
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201901877

Abstract

The P and M enantiomers of the octanuclear [Fe₈ (μ₄ -O)₄ (μ-4-Cl-pz)₁₂ Cl₄ ] complex, having T symmetry, were resolved by temporary substitution of chloride ligands by racemic 4-^s Bu-phenolates and subsequent crystallization, where the (S)- and (R)-phenolates coordinate selectively to the M and P complexes, respectively. The complexes were characterized by circular dichroism analysis and X-ray structure determination. This work constitutes a rare example of enantiomeric recognition resulting in spontaneous resolution upon crystallization.

Keywords: X-ray crystallography; circular dichroism; iron; polynuclear complexes; spontaneous resolution.