Preparation, characterization, DFT calculations and ethylene oligomerization studies of iron(II) complexes bearing 2-(1H-benzimidazol-2-yl)-phenol derivatives

Abstract

Five 2-(1H-benzimidazol-2-yl)-phenol derivatives including 1H (HL1), 5-chloro-(HL2), 5-methyl-(HL3), 5,6-dichloro-(HL4), and 5,6-dimethyl-(HL5) were synthesized by the reaction of their corresponding benzene-1,2-diamine precursors and 2-hydroxybenzaldehyde which subsequently was employed in complexation with Fe(II) to prepare complexes C1–C5, respectively. Indeed, in all complexes, the ligands were coordinated as bidentate, via the C=N nitrogen and hydroxy oxygen atom of benzimidazole moiety and phenol ring, respectively. The compounds were characterized by FTIR, UV–vis, 1H- and 13C-NMR spectropscopy, ICP, and elemental analysis (C, H, and N). The purity of these compounds was determined by melting point (m.p )and TLC. The synthesized ligands and complexes were geometrically optimized by Gaussian09 software at B3LYP/TZVP level of theory and satisfactory theoretical–experimental agreement was achieved for analysis of IR data of the compounds. Catalytic behavior of the iron(II) complexes was investigated for ethylene reactivity. On activation with diethylaluminum chloride (Et2AlCl), iron(II) complex (C4) showed the highest activity (1686 kg oligomers.mol−1(Fe).h−1) for ethylene oligomerization when it contains chlorine substituents and exhibits good selectivity for linear 1-butene. The steric and electronic effects of ligands were investigated in detail on the influence of their catalytic activities.