The present paper deals with the synthesis and structural characterization of novel neutral oxorhenium(V) complexes
of the general formula ReO[SNO][NN]. The simultaneous action of the tridentate SNO ligand, N-(2-mercaptoacetyl)glycine (1), and the bidentate NN ligand, N-phenylpyridine-2-aldimine (2), on ReOCl3(PPh3)2 leads to the formation
of two isomers 4a and 4b of the general formula ReO[SNO][NN], as a result of the different orientations of the NN
ligand. In both cases, the SNO donor atoms of the tridentate ligand occupy the three positions in the equatorial
plane of the distorted octahedron, whereas the oxo group is always directed toward one of the apical positions. In
the first isomer, 4a, the imino nitrogen of the NN ligand occupies the fourth equatorial position and the pyridine
type nitrogen is directed trans to the oxo group, while in the second isomer, 4b, the imino nitrogen of the NN ligand
occupies the apical position trans to the oxo group and the pyridine type nitrogen completes the equatorial plane
of the distorted octahedron. The [SNO][NN] mixed-ligand system was applied in the synthesis of the oxorhenium
complex 5 in which the 1-(2-methoxyphenyl)piperazine moiety, a fragment of the true 5-HT1A antagonist WAY
100635, has been incorporated in the NN bidentate ligand (NN is N-{3-[4-(2-methoxyphenyl)piperazin-1-yl]propyl}pyridine-2-aldimine). In this case, high-performance liquid chromatography and NMR showed the existence of one
isomer, 5, in which the pyridine nitrogen is trans to the oxo core, as demonstrated by crystal structure analysis