Design of selective macrocyclic ligands for the divalent first-row transition-metal ions †

Abstract

The protonation constants of H2L1, 3,11-bis(carboxymethyl)-3,7,11,17-tetraazabicyclo[11.3.1]heptadeca-1(17),13,15-triene and H3L2, 3,7,11-tris(carboxymethyl)-3,7,11,17-tetraazabicyclo[11.3.1]heptadeca-1(17),13,15-triene, and stability constants of complexes formed by these macrocycles with Mg2+, Ca2+, Mn2+, Co2+, Ni2+, Cu2+, Zn2+, Cd2+, Pb2+, Ga3+, Fe3+ and In3+ were determined at 25 °C and ionic strength 0.10 mol dm–3 in NMe4NO3. Both compounds are very selective for the divalent first-row transition-metal ions, exhibiting very high stability constants for Cu2+, fairly high values for Ni2+, but sharply decreasing ones for the remaining metal ions of this row. Their complexes with the alkaline-earth or larger metal ions, such as Pb2+, have low stability constants. The crystal structure of [CuL1]·4H2O was determined. The copper atom is encapsulated by the macrocycle in a distorted octahedral environment. The equatorial plane contains the four nitrogen atoms of the tetraaza ring and six-co-ordination is completed via two oxygen atoms of the appended carboxylate groups. The angles at the metal centre are close to the expected values of 90 and 180° for octahedral geometry. Molecular mechanics studies carried out for the cis and the trans octahedral [ML1] complexes were consistent with the structure found in the solid state. For a mean CuII–N distance of 2.01 A the experimentally observed trans isomer is 6.5 kcal mol–1 more stable than the cis one. On the other hand these calculations suggest that larger ions such as Pb2+, Ca2+ or Mn2+ can be accommodated by the macrocycle in a cis-octahedral environment. However, these ions allow co-ordination numbers higher than six and so other structures ought to be also considered. The low stability constants for metal complexes of Co2+ and Zn2+ indicate that these complexes do not have a trans-octahedral structure, while the molecular mechanics calculations reveal that the cis isomer is not the most stable form. Therefore, other structures with co-ordination numbers lower than six should be considered, implying that one or more donor atoms are not co-ordinated. Stability constants of metal complexes of (L2)3– and EPR studies suggest that not all the donor atoms in this macrocycle are co-ordinated when complexes are formed with first-row-transition divalent metal ions.