Synthetic Advances for Mechanistic Insights: Metal–Oxygen Intermediates with a Macrocyclic Pyridinophane System

Abstract

Metalloenzymes, which are proteins containing earth-abundant transition-metal ions as cofactors in the active site, generate various metal–oxygen intermediates via activating a dioxygen molecule (O2) to mediate vital metabolic functions, such as the oxidative metabolism of xenobiotics and the biotransformation of naturally occurring molecules. By replicating the active sites of metalloenzymes, many bioinorganic chemists have studied the geometric and electronic properties and reactivities of model complexes to understand the nature of enzymatic intermediates and develop bioinspired metal catalysts. Among the reported model complexes, nonporphyrinic macrocyclic ligands are the predominant coordination system widely used in stabilizing and isolating diverse metal–oxygen intermediates, which allows us to extensively investigate the physicochemical characteristics of the analogs of reactive intermediates of metalloenzymes. In particular, it has been reported that the ring size of the macrocyclic ligands, defined by the number of atoms in the macrocyclic ring, drastically affects the identity of the metal–oxygen intermediate. Thus, systematic modification of the macrocyclic ligands has been a great subject being examined in various inorganic fields.

In this Account, we describe synthetic advances of a macrocyclic ligand system by introducing pyridine donors into a 12-membered tetraazamacrocyclic ligand (12-TMC) that initially has 4 amine donors. Interestingly, the backbone of the pyridinophane ligand with 2 pyridine and 2 amine donors in a 12-membered ring is shown to be much more folded than in other macrocyclic ligands, thereby allowing the axial and equatorial donors to separately control the electronic structure of metal complexes. Then, we looked over independent electronic and steric effects on metal–oxygen species with thorough physicochemical analysis. The NiIII–peroxo complexes exhibit nucleophilic reactivity dependent on the steric hindrance of the second coordination sphere. Furthermore, the C–H bond strength of the second coordination sphere has also been an important factor in determining the stability of MnIV–bis(hydroxo) intermediates. Electronic tuning on CoIII–hydroperoxo intermediates results in a trend between the electron-donating abilities of para-substituents on pyridine in the pyridinophane ligand and electrophilic reactivities, from which mechanistic insights into the metal–hydroperoxo species have been gained. Importantly, the metal–oxygen intermediates supported by the pyridinophane ligand system have revealed quite challenging chemical reactions, including dioxygenase-like nitrile activation by CoIII–peroxo intermediates and the oxidation of aldehyde and aromatic compounds by manganese–oxygen intermediates. Based on the fine substitution of donors, we have addressed that those novel reactions originated from the unique framework of the pyridinophane system incorporating spin-crossover behavior and high redox potentials of the metal–oxygen intermediates. These results will be valuable for the structure–activity relationship of metal–oxygen intermediates, giving a better understanding on the enzymatic coordination system where amino acid ligands vary for specific chemical reactions.