Syntheses and Characterization by NMR Spectroscopy and X-ray Diffraction of Complexes Derived from Metals of Groups 2 and 13 and the Ligand Bis(3,5-di-tert-butyl-1-hydroxy-2-phenyl)amine

Abstract

Reaction of 3,5-di-tert-butylcatechol and aqueous ammonia with boron, aluminum, gallium, or strontium chloride, or with calcium or barium acetate produce, under oxidizing conditions, neutral complexes of stoichiometric formulae ML (M = BCl), ML2, [M = Al (2), Ga (3), Ca (4), and Ba (5)], and ML3H [M = Sr (6)] [L = different oxidation states of bis(3,5-di-tert-butyl-1-hydroxy-2-phenyl)amine]. The structures of 1 and 4–6 were established by 1H- and 13C-NMR spectroscopy and of 2, 3, and 6 by X-ray diffraction. The coordination compound ClBL (1) was obtained by transmetallation of ZnL2 with BCl3. It is a tetracyclic compound with tetracoordinated boron and nitrogen atoms, the ligand being in the reduced form, bis(hydroxyphenyl)amine. The paramagnetic complexes 2 and 3 crystallized in the triclinic system and are hexacoordinated with two orthogonal planar ligands bonded to the metal atoms. The ligands appear in two different oxidation states: one as the monoanion and another as a radical dianion. Based on their X-ray diffraction molecular structures, it is deduced that both ligands have similar structures, confirming electronic delocalization and fast interconversion of their oxidation states. Ca and Ba complexes are diamagnetic and hexacoordinated, both ligands being monoanions The strontium complex crystallized in the monoclinic system, the metal atom is nonacoordinated, having two ligands as monoanions, and a third one is a neutral protonated diquinone. Its structure is a distorted helix with three paddles in a C3 geometry and its unexpected diamagnetic behaviour is due to the presence of a reduced protonated ligand.