Rhenium and Technetium Tricarbonyl Complexes of N‑Heterocyclic
Carbene Ligands
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Abstract
A strategy
for the conjugation of N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)
ligands to biomolecules via amide bond formation is described. Both
1-(2-pyridyl)imidazolium or 1-(2-pyridyl)benzimidazolium salts functionalized
with a pendant carboxylic acid group were prepared and coupled to
glycine benzyl ester using 1-ethyl-3-(3-(dimethylamino)propyl)carbodiimide.
A series of 10 rhenium(I) tricarbonyl complexes of the form [ReX(CO)<sub>3</sub>(ĈN)] (ĈN is a bidentate NHC ligand, and X is
a monodentate anionic ligand: Cl<sup>–</sup>, RCO<sub>2</sub><sup>–</sup>) were synthesized via a Ag<sub>2</sub>O transmetalation
protocol from the Re(I) precursor compound Re(CO)<sub>5</sub>Cl. The
synthesized azolium salts and Re(I) complexes were characterized by
elemental analysis and by <sup>1</sup>H and <sup>13</sup>C NMR spectroscopy,
and the molecular structures for one imidazolium salt and seven Re(I)
complexes were determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. <sup>1</sup>H NMR and mass spectrometry studies for an acetonitrile-<i>d</i><sub>3</sub> solution of [ReCl(CO)<sub>3</sub>(1-(2-pyridyl)-3-methylimidazolylidene)]
show that the monodentate chloride ligand is labile and exchanges
with this solvent yielding a cationic acetonitrile adduct. For the
first time the labeling of an NHC ligand with technetium-99m is reported.
Rapid Tc-99m labeling was achieved by heating the imidazolium salt
1-(2-pyridyl)-3-methylimidazolium iodide and Ag<sub>2</sub>O in methanol,
followed by the addition of <i>fac</i>-[<sup>99m</sup>Tc(OH<sub>2</sub>)<sub>3</sub>(CO)<sub>3</sub>]<sup>+</sup>. To confirm the
structure of the <sup>99m</sup>Tc-labeled complex, the equivalent <sup>99</sup>Tc complex was prepared, and mass spectrometric studies showed
that the formed Tc complexes are of the form [<sup>99<i>m</i>/99</sup>Tc(CH<sub>3</sub>CN)(CO)<sub>3</sub>(1-(2-pyridyl)-3-methylimidazolylidene)]<sup>+</sup> with an acetonitrile molecule coordinated to the metal center