Mechanism study on photo-oxidation dehydrogenation of cyclometalated Ir(III) amino acid complexes

Abstract

Aerobic oxidation of amino acid complexes is an important process for the functionalization of amino acids. However, the reaction mechanism is still uncertain. Two enantiopure imino acid complexes Δ-[Ir(pq)2(ala-2H)] and Δ-[Ir(ppy)2(ala-2H)] (where pq is 2-phenylquinoline, ppy is 2-phenylpyridine and ala is alanine) have been synthesized respectively via the dehydrogenated oxidation reaction of the corresponding amino acid complexes Δ-[Ir(pq)2(l-ala)] and Δ-[Ir(ppy)2(l-ala)] in EtOH using visible light as the driving force and oxygen as an oxidant under mild conditions. The imino acid complexes have been fully characterized by NMR and MS techniques as well as X-ray single-crystal determination. The mechanism studies show singlet oxygen (1O2) is the main reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the carbon radical intermediate may involve in the reaction process. Therefore, a reaction mechanism involving the formation of a ligand-radical intermediate rather than the higher oxidation state of the metal center was proposed.