Dinuclear complexes of chiral tetradentate pyridylimine ligands: diastereoselectivity, positive cooperativity, anion selectivity, ligand self-sorting based on chirality, and magnetism.

The synthesis and coordination chemistry of two chiral tetradentate pyridylimine Schiff base ligands are reported. The ligands were prepared by the nucleophilic displacement of both bromides of 1,3-bis(bromomethyl)benzene (2) or 3,5-bis(bromomethyl)toluene (3) by the anion of (S)-valinol, followed by capping of both amine groups with pyridine-2-carboxaldehyde. Both ligands react with CoCl(2) and NiCl(2) to give M(2)L(2)Cl(2) complexes. Remarkably, neither fluoride nor bromide ions can act as bridging ligands. The formation of Co(2)((S)-3)(2)Cl(2) is highly diastereoselective, and X-ray crystallography shows that both metal centers in the Co(2)((S)-3)(2)Cl(2) complex adopt the lambda configuration (crystal data: Co(2)(C(31)H(40)N(4)O(2))(2)Cl(2).(CH(3)CN)(3), monoclinic, P2(1), a = 11.595(2) A, b = 22.246(4) A, c = 15.350(2) A, V = 3705(1) A(3), beta = 110.643(3) degrees, Z = 2). Structurally, the dinuclear complex can be viewed as a helicate with the helical axis running perpendicular to the [Co(2)Cl(2)] plane. The reaction of racemic 2 with CoCl(2) was shown by (1)H NMR spectroscopy to yield a racemic mixture of Lambda,Lambda-Co(2)((S)-2)(2)Cl(2) and delta,delta-Co(2)((R)-2)(2)Cl(2) complexes; that is, a homochiral recognition process takes place. Spectrophotometric titrations were performed by titrating (S)-3 with Co(ClO(4))(2) followed by Bu(4)NCl, and the global stability constants of Co((S)-3) (log beta(110) = 5.7), Co((S)-3)(2) (log beta(120) = 11.6), and Co(2)((S)-3)(2)Cl(2) (log beta(110) = 23.8) were calculated. The results revealed a strong positive cooperativity in the formation of Co(2)((S)-3)(2)Cl(2). Variable-temperature magnetic susceptibility curves for Co(2)((S)-2)(2)Cl(2)(2) and Co(2)((S)-3)(2)Cl(2)(2) are very similar and indicate that there are no significant magnetic interactions between the cobalt(II) centers.