A Rigid Linker for Site-Selective Coordination of Transition Metal Cations: Combining an Acetylacetone with a Caged Phosphine

Inorg Chem. 2023 Feb 20;62(7):3178-3185. doi: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.2c04101. Epub 2023 Feb 9.

Abstract

The combination of a soft phosphorus and a hard oxygen donor in the new ligand HacacTRIP leads to excellent site selectivity for the coordination of two different metal cations of matching Pearson character. The deprotonation step required for coordinating the acetylacetone oxygen donor further increases the selectivity. In contrast to most phosphines, the use of the caged phosphatriptycene motif enables a rigid and directional orientation of the phosphorus binding site which is required to form stable coordination network structures. In addition to the synthesis of HacacTRIP, we present its selective coordination. The deprotonated acetylacetone was selectively bound to CuII and FeIII. The solid state structure of the former displays a rare axial coordination of chloroform molecules. The phosphorus donor was selectively coordinated to the monovalent coinage metal cations CuI, AgI, and AuI. The CuI and AgI complexes represent the first examples in which a phosphatriptycene is bound to these metal cations. Heterometallic coordination compounds were characterized with combinations of these two groups. They comprise an oligonuclear CuI/CuII mixed-valence compound in which iodide binds to both CuI and CuII cations and a complex in which acacTRIP- bridges CuII and AuI. In addition to these discrete aggregates, the ligand has been used to link FeIII and AgI into a 2D coordination polymer with unprecedented trigonal planar coordination of three bulky phosphatriptycenes to a cation and resulting honeycomb topology. Its almost regular hexagons underline the desired rigidity of the ditopic acacTRIP- ligand.