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We report in this article one of the first examples of a reaction of O-demethylation carried out at a Fe(II) center by molecular dioxygen, in the homogeneous phase in non-porphyrinic chemistry. This reaction parallels at the intramolecular level a very important process found in biology leading to the derivatization and elimination of drugs by oxygen-dependent enzymes that contain nonheme iron centers. To get insight into some reactivity aspects of this reaction, we have used dioxygen and iron complexes coordinated to ligands that are substituted by methoxy groups. We detail in this work the coordination chemistry of FeCl(2) to the series of mono- (L(1)), di- (L(2)), and tris(2,3-dimethoxyphenyl) (L(3)) alpha-substituted ligands in the tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine series and the behavior of the complexes upon reaction with molecular dioxygen. As main outcomes of this study, we demonstrate that the methoxy group does not need to be coordinated to the metal center to undergo O-demethylation, but needs to be properly orientated close to an oxygenated form of the metal. We also demonstrate the importance of the environment in the reactivity with molecular dioxygen: whereas a regular 18-electron Fe(II) reacts with O(2), a five- coordinate, 16-electron center may be oxygen-stable, if the access of dioxygen to the reaction site is locked.

We report the coordination studies of porphyrins with pre-organized but yet flexible straps, each bearing over the center of the porphyrin either a 2,2-malonic acid diethyl ester residue or a 2,2-malonic acid residue. The straps are attached to the porphyrin via two adjacent meso positions, 5,10 and 15,20, respectively, and the 2,2-malonic acid diethyl ester groups are connected to the straps on benzylic carbon atoms. These two structural features allow a significant flexibility of the straps, as confirmed by the comparison of the X-ray structures of the zinc, nickel, and lead complexes of porphyrin 1. In the latter, the influence of the lone-electron pair of lead is clearly demonstrated. The coordination of bismuth is also reported.

New picket porphyrins delivering at least one carboxylic group around the coordination site of the macrocycle were synthesized for bismuth coordination. The influence of the number, the length, and the pre-organization of the carboxylic acid pickets on the stability of the bismuth complexes was explored. Their stabilities in acidic medium were compared with those of their precursors bearing ester pickets. The molecular structure of one of the bismuth complexes, which is the only monomeric bismuth porphyrin reported up to now, is discussed. At the opposite of what we initially reported, and in agreement with the theoretical calculations, the distortion of the macrocycle in this structure is mainly due to the number of water molecules in the first sphere of coordination of the bismuth.

The tris(2-fluoro-6-pyridylmethyl)amine ligand, F3TPA, can easily be prepared by reaction of 2-fluoro-6-bromomethylpyridine with NH4Cl in the presence of NaOH. Complexation to FeCl2 affords the high-spin F3TPAFe(II)Cl2 complex, the X-ray structure of which is reported. The three fluorine substituents provide enough steric hindrance to force the tripod to coordinate in the tridentate mode, affording a trigonal bipyramidal iron center. This complex is thermally stable, and it reacts instantaneously with molecular dioxygen to afford the unsymmetrical micro-oxo dimer F3TPAFe(III)ClOFe(III)Cl3 as the major product, together with small amounts of the mixed salt [F3TPAFe(II)Cl]2, [Fe(III)2OCl6]. These two complexes have been isolated and characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis. A mechanism by which they are obtained is suggested and seems to parallel the well-known process of autoxidation of ferrous porphyrins.