Optically active homoleptic bis(phthalocyaninato) rare earth double-decker complexes bearing peripheral chiral menthol moieties: effect of pi-pi interaction on the chiral information transfer at the molecular level.

With the view to creating novel sandwich-type phthalocyaninato rare earth complexes toward new applications in material science and catalysis, d- and l-enantiomers of a series of optically active homoleptic bis(phthalocyaninato) rare earth double-deckers with four chiral menthol moieties at the peripheral positions of the phthalocyanine ligand, M(Pc*)(2) [Pc* = 2(3),9(10),16(17),23(24)-tetrakis(2-isopropyl-5-methylcyclohexoxyl)phthalocyanine; M = Eu, Y, Lu] (1-3), have been designed and prepared by treating (d)- or (l)-4-(2-isopropyl-5-methylcyclohexoxyl)-1,2-dicyanobenzene with the corresponding M(acac)(3).nH(2)O (acac = acetylacetonate) in the presence of the organic base 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene (DBU) in refluxing n-pentanol. For the purpose of comparative study, heteroleptic bis(phthalocyaninato) europium analogues (d)- and (l)-Eu(Pc)(Pc*) (4) as well as the unsubstituted homoleptic bis(phthalocyaninato) europium counterpart Eu(Pc)(2) (5) were also prepared. The novel synthesized bis(phthalocyaninato) rare earth double-deckers have been characterized by a wide range of spectroscopic methods including MS, (1)H NMR, IR, and electronic absorption spectroscopic measurements in addition to elemental analysis. In contrast to the CD silent monomeric metal-free 2(3),9(10),16(17),23(24)-tetrakis(2-isopropyl-5-methylcyclohexoxyl)phthalocyanine, observation of the CD signal in the N absorption region of 4 reveals the significant effect of intramolecular pi-pi interaction on intensifying the asymmetrical perturbation of the chiral menthol units onto the phthalocyanine chromophore, which results in successful chiral information transfer from menthol moieties to the phthalocyanine chromophore at a molecular level in the heteroleptic double-decker compound 4 despite the lack of CD signal in the Soret and Q absorption regions of the phthalocyanine ligand. This is further supported by the optical activity of homoleptic bis(phthalocyaninato) rare earth double-deckers M(Pc*)(2) (1-3), as revealed by the CD signals even in the Soret and Q absorption regions according to the CD spectroscopic result, indicating the intensified asymmetrical perturbation of the chiral menthol units onto the phthalocyanine chromophores along with the increase in the chiral menthol substituent number from 4 to 1-3. The present result at the molecular level is helpful for understanding the chiral information transfer mechanism at the supermolecular level. In addition, the electrochemical properties of bis(phthalocyaninato) rare earth complexes have also been comparatively investigated by cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry.