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Fluorine is an essential component in many highly effective pharmaceutical drugs, however the selective fluorination of organic molecules poses a challenge. A common route to installing fluorine involves C-F bond cleavage, which is often accomplished using second- or third-row transition metals. Base metal catalysts such as nickel may provide a facile, sustainable, and cheaper alternative for C-F activation. Monodentate N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) nickel complexes have been reported to undergo C-F activation, however bis-bidentate NHC (RNHC2R1; R, R1 = alkyl or aryl) analogs remain underexplored. This work reports a series of RNHC2R1 nickel(0) complexes with various R1 linkers to determine the effect of the linker on the C-F activation of hexafluorobenzene. Comparisons include a reference nickel(0) complex with two monodentate NHC ligands, and results show that low-valent nickel NHC complexes readily break the C-F bond in C6F6 via oxidative addition. Crystallographic and NMR characterization demonstrate that ligand design and denticity affect the cis versus trans orientation of the final product, with the possibility for additional ligand C-H activation.
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Proton affinity studies of nickel N2S2 complexes and control of aggregation
The thiolate ligands of [NiFe]-H2ase enzymes have been implicated as proton-binding sites for the reduction/oxidation of H+/H2. This study examines the ligand effect on reactivity of NiN2S2 complexes with an array of acids in methanol solution. UV–Vis absorption spectroscopy is utilized to observe the transformation from the monomeric species to a trimetallic complex that is formed after proton-induced ligand dissociation. Nickel complexes with a flexible (propyl and ethyl) N to N linker were found to readily form the trimetallic complex with acids as weak as ammonium (pKa = 10.9 in methanol). A more constrained nickel complex with a diazacycloheptane N to N linker required stronger acids such as 2,2-dichloroacetic acid (pKa = 6.38 in methanol) to form the trimetallic complex and featured the formation of an NiN2S2H+ complex with acetic acid (pKa = 9.63 in methanol). The most strained ligand, which featured a diazacyclohexane backbone, readily dissociated from the nickel center upon mixture with acids with pKa ≤ 9.63 and showed no evidence of a trimetallic species with any acid. This research highlights the dramatic differences in reactivity with proton sources that can be imparted by minor alterations to ligand geometry and strain.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1665258
- PAR ID:
- 10106111
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- JBIC Journal of Biological Inorganic Chemistry
- ISSN:
- 0949-8257
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s00775-019-01671-4
