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1. Concerted proton–electron transfer reactions of manganese–hydroxo and manganese–oxo complexes

   https://doi.org/10.1039/d0cc01201g  

   Mayfield, Jaycee R.; Grotemeyer, Elizabeth N.; Jackson, Timothy A. (January 2020, Chemical Communications)

   The enzymes manganese superoxide dismutase and manganese lipoxygenase use Mn III –hydroxo centres to mediate proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) reactions with substrate. As manganese is earth-abundant and inexpensive, manganese catalysts are of interest for synthetic applications. Recent years have seen exciting reports of enantioselective C–H bond oxidation by Mn catalysts supported by aminopyridyl ligands. Such catalysts offer economic and environmentally-friendly alternatives to conventional reagents and catalysts. Mechanistic studies of synthetic catalysts highlight the role of Mn–oxo motifs in attacking substrate C–H bonds, presumably by a concerted proton–electron transfer (CPET) step. (CPET is a sub-class of PCET, where the proton and electron are transferred in the same step.) Knowledge of geometric and electronic influences for CPET reactions of Mn–hydroxo and Mn–oxo adducts enhances our understanding of biological and synthetic manganese centers and informs the design of new catalysts. In this Feature article, we describe kinetic, spectroscopic, and computational studies of Mn III –hydroxo and Mn IV –oxo complexes that provide insight into the basis for the CPET reactivity of these species. Systematic perturbations of the ligand environment around Mn III –hydroxo and Mn IV –oxo motifs permit elucidation of structure–activity relationships. For Mn III –hydroxo centers, electron-deficient ligands enhance oxidative reactivity. However, ligand perturbations have competing consequences, as changes in the Mn III/II potential, which represents the electron-transfer component for CPET, is offset by compensating changes in the p K a of the Mn II –aqua product, which represents the proton-transfer component for CPET. For Mn IV –oxo systems, a multi-state reactivity model inspired the development of significantly more reactive complexes. Weakened equatorial donation to the Mn IV –oxo unit results in large rate enhancements for C–H bond oxidation and oxygen-atom transfer reactions. These results demonstrate that the local coordination environment can be rationally changed to enhance reactivity of Mn III –hydroxo and Mn IV –oxo adducts. 

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2. C(sp ³ )–H cyanation by a formal copper( iii ) cyanide complex

   https://doi.org/10.1039/d2sc06573h  

   Bower, Jamey K.; Reese, Maxwell S.; Mazin, Ilia M.; Zarnitsa, Lina M.; Cypcar, Andrew D.; Moore, Curtis E.; Sokolov, Alexander Yu.; Zhang, Shiyu (February 2023, Chemical Science)

   High-valent metal oxo complexes are prototypical intermediates for the activation and hydroxylation of alkyl C–H bonds. Substituting the oxo ligand with other functional groups offers the opportunity for additional C–H functionalization beyond C–O bond formation. However, few species aside from metal oxo complexes have been reported to both activate and functionalize alkyl C–H bonds. We herein report the first example of an isolated copper( iii ) cyanide complex (LCu III CN) and its C–H cyanation reactivity. We found that the redox potential ( E ox ) of substrates, instead of C–H bond dissociation energy, is a key determinant of the rate of PCET, suggesting an oxidative asynchronous CPET or ETPT mechanism. Among substrates with the same BDEs, those with low redox potentials transfer H atoms up to a million-fold faster. Capitalizing on this mechanistic insight, we found that LCu III CN is highly selective for cyanation of amines, which is predisposed to oxidative asynchronous or stepwise transfer of H + /e − . Our study demonstrates that the asynchronous effect of PCET is an appealing tool for controlling the selectivity of C–H functionalization. 

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3. Direct photochemical activation of non-heme Fe( iv )O complexes

   https://doi.org/10.1039/c7cc07452b  

   Chen, Juan; Draksharapu, Apparao; Harvey, Emma; Rasheed, Waqas; Que, Lawrence; Browne, Wesley R. (January 2017, Chemical Communications)

   Near-UV excitation of non-heme Fe IV O complexes results in light intensity dependent increase in reaction rates for the oxidation of C–H bonds even at low temperature (−30 °C). The enhancement of activity is ascribed to the ligand-to-[Fe IV O] charge transfer character of the near-UV bands to generate a highly reactive [(L + ) Fe III –O*] species. The enhancement is not observed with visible/NIR excitation of the d–d absorption bands. 

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4. Comparison of two Mn ^IV Mn ^IV -bis-μ-oxo complexes {[Mn ^IV (N ₄ (6-Me-DPEN))] ₂ (μ-O) ₂ } ²⁺ and {[Mn ^IV (N ₄ (6-Me-DPPN))] ₂ (μ-O) ₂ } ²⁺

   https://doi.org/10.1107/S2056989020004557  

   Coggins, Michael K.; Downing, Alexandra N.; Kaminsky, Werner; Kovacs, Julie A. (July 2020, Acta Crystallographica Section E Crystallographic Communications)

   null (Ed.)

   The addition of tert -butyl hydroperoxide ( t BuOOH) to two structurally related Mn II complexes containing N,N -bis(6-methyl-2-pyridylmethyl)ethane-1,2-diamine (6-Me-DPEN) and N,N -bis(6-methyl-2-pyridylmethyl)propane-1,2-diamine (6-Me-DPPN) results in the formation of high-valent bis-oxo complexes, namely di-μ-oxido-bis{[ N , N -bis(6-methyl-2-pyridylmethyl)ethane-1,2-diamine]manganese(II)}( Mn — Mn ) bis(tetraphenylborate) dihydrate, [Mn(C 16 H 22 N 4 ) 2 O 2 ](C 24 H 20 B) 2 ·2H 2 O or {[Mn IV (N 4 (6-Me-DPEN))] 2 ( μ -O) 2 }(2BPh 4 )(2H 2 O) ( 1 ) and di-μ-oxido-bis{[ N , N -bis(6-methyl-2-pyridylmethyl)propane-1,3-diamine]manganese(II)}( Mn — Mn ) bis(tetraphenylborate) diethyl ether disolvate, [Mn(C 17 H 24 N 4 ) 2 O 2 ](C 24 H 20 B) 2 ·2C 4 H 10 O or {[Mn IV (N 4 (6-MeDPPN))] 2 ( μ -O) 2 }(2BPh 4 )(2Et 2 O) ( 2 ). Complexes 1 and 2 both contain the `diamond core' motif found previously in a number of iron, copper, and manganese high-valent bis-oxo compounds. The flexibility in the propyl linker in the ligand scaffold of 2 , as compared to that of the ethyl linker in 1 , results in more elongated Mn—N bonds, as one would expect. The Mn—Mn distances and Mn—O bond lengths support an Mn IV oxidation state assignment for the Mn ions in both 1 and 2 . The angles around the Mn centers are consistent with the local pseudo-octahedral geometry. 

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5. Statistical analysis of C–H activation by oxo complexes supports diverse thermodynamic control over reactivity

   https://doi.org/10.1039/D0SC06058E  

   Schneider, Joseph E.; Goetz, McKenna K.; Anderson, John S. (March 2021, Chemical Science)

   null (Ed.)

   Transition metal oxo species are key intermediates for the activation of strong C–H bonds. As such, there has been interest in understanding which structural or electronic parameters of metal oxo complexes determine their reactivity. Factors such as ground state thermodynamics, spin state, steric environment, oxygen radical character, and asynchronicity have all been cited as key contributors, yet there is no consensus on when each of these parameters is significant or the relative magnitude of their effects. Herein, we present a thorough statistical analysis of parameters that have been proposed to influence transition metal oxo mediated C–H activation. We used density functional theory (DFT) to compute parameters for transition metal oxo complexes and analyzed their ability to explain and predict an extensive data set of experimentally determined reaction barriers. We found that, in general, only thermodynamic parameters play a statistically significant role. Notably, however, there are independent and significant contributions from the oxidation potential and basicity of the oxo complexes which suggest a more complicated thermodynamic picture than what has been shown previously. 

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