The synthesis and characterization of new iron coordination complexes utilizing an asymmetric coordinating chelate ligand

Abstract

A binuclear, unsymmetric coordinating ligand that is an effective metal chelator has been designed and synthesized. The new ligand has been shown to react readily with iron(II)/(III) forming a variety of coordination complexes. The binuclear complexes are of significant interest since they represent proof-of-principle for the development of coordinatively asymmetric, binuclear metal chelate compounds. Although this structural type of chelator now appears to be common in biological systems, it has not been previously described for inorganic coordination chemistry. The isolation of oxidation products will be helpful in establishing reaction mechanism(s) of these complexes with molecular oxygen. It is expected that this ligand and derivatives of it will play an important role in the development of bioinorganic complexes that aim to mimic enzyme active sites that function by substrate interaction at only one metal site of a multimetal active site