Synthesis and structural characterization of scandium SALEN complexes.

A series of heteroleptic scandium SALEN complexes, [(SALEN)Sc(mu-Cl)]2 and (SALEN)Sc[N(SiHMe2)2] is obtained via amine elimination reactions using [Sc(N(i)Pr2)2(mu-Cl)(THF)]2 and Sc[N(SiHMe2)2]3(THF) as metal precursors, respectively. H(2)SALEN ligand precursors comprising H2Salen [(1,2-ethandiyl)bis(nitrilomethylidyne)bis(2,4-di-tert-butyl)phenol], H2Salpren [(2,2-dimethylpropanediyl)bis(nitrilomethylidyne)bis(2,4-di-tert-butyl)phenol], H2Salcyc [(1R,2R)-(-)-1,2-cyclohexanediyl)bis(nitrilomethylidyne)bis(2,4-di-tert-butyl)phenol] and H2Salphen [((1S,2S)-(-)-1,2-diphenylethandiyl)bis(nitrilomethylidyne)bis(2,4-di-tert-butyl)phenol] are selected according to solubility and ligand backbone variation ("=N-(R)-N=" bite angle) criteria. Consideration is given to the feasibility of [Cl --> NR2] and [N(SiHMe2)2--> OSiR3] secondary ligand exchange reactions. X-ray crystal structure analyses of donor-free (Salpren)Sc(N(i)Pr2), (R,R)-(Salcyc)Sc[N(SiHMe2)2], (Salen)Sc(OSi(t)BuPh2) and (Salphen)Sc(OSiH(t)Bu2) reveal (i) a very short Sc-N bond distance of 2.000(3) A, (ii) weak beta(Si-H)(amido)-Sc agostic interactions and (iii) an exclusive intramolecularly tetradentate and intrinsically bent coordination mode of the SALEN ligands with angle(Ph,Ph) dihedral angles and Sc-[N(2)O(2)] distances in the 124.27(9)-127.7(3) degrees and 0.638(1)-0.688(1) A range, respectively.