Synthetic and Structural Studies of Cobalt–Pivalate Complexes

Abstract

The synthesis and characterisation of a range of cobalt pivalate cage complexes are reported. The cages include: a dinuclear Co(II) complex; an oxo-centred Co(III) triangle; tetranuclear Co(II) heterocubanes and butterflies; tetranuclear heterovalent cobalt butterflies and hexanuclear edge-sharing bitetrahedra; heterovalent penta-, hexa- and hepta-nuclear cages based on [M(4)O(4)] heterocubane cores; and a tetradecanuclear cage based on heterocubanes sharing edges and vertices. Spectroscopic studies suggest that some of these cores are retained in solution, but that only in the Co(III) triangle is the structure including ligands retained. A scheme is proposed to account for the many structures observed, which may be applicable to other polymetallic cage complexes.