mation) shows that there is extensive delocalization within
the O1-C1-C2-C3’-N1’ and N1-C3-C2’-C1’-O1’ sections of
ꢀ
the molecule and these are connected by authentic C C
ꢀ
single bonds with C1 C3 distances of 1.519(2) ꢃ (see
Table S2 in the Supporting Information). These molecules
can thus be considered as two merocyanine units connected
[29]
ꢀ
by C C single bonds as has been observed before. Cyclic
voltammetry experiments on 2–5 in CH2Cl2 with 0.1m
Bu4NPF6 showed one oxidation and two reduction processes
(see Figure S2 in the Supporting Information). While the
first reduction is reversible, the oxidation and second reduc-
tion are irreversible processes. The influence of double-
alkyl, rather than single-alkyl, substitution is shown by
slightly more negative reduction potentials for 4 and 5 com-
pared with 2 and 3, respectively. The influence of n-butyl
versus isopropyl groups on the reduction potentials is negli-
gible (Table 1).
Structural, electrochemical, magnetic, and UV/Vis-NIR and
EPR spectroelectrochemical results are reported below.
Reaction of 2,5-diamino-1,4-dihydroxybenzene in water
with air leads to the formation of 1. This is a one-pot reac-
tion and, in stark contrast to the synthetic procedures
known in the literature for 1, does not require any further
purification.[21,24]
When the same reaction was carried out in the presence
of isopropylamine or n-butylamine we observed “double”
transamination leading to the formation of 4 or 5, respec-
tively. Such transamination reactions have been observed
previously, but this is only the second example of transami-
nation reactions in quinonoid chemistry.[25] However, in con-
trast to reference [25] the yields of 4 and 5 were unsatisfac-
tory. Careful examination of the reaction mixture showed
that the formation of the parent compound 1, which is
poorly soluble in water, is extremely fast and its precipita-
tion limits the yield of the transamination. To circumvent
this problem, we carried out the transamination reactions in
a mixture of water, dichloromethane, and THF with Bu4NCl
as a phase-transfer catalyst (see Supporting Information).
These reaction conditions not only led to higher yields, but
also to the formation of a second product. Analysis of the
products showed it to be a mixture of the monosubstituted
products, 2 or 3, and the disubstituted products, 4 or 5. Thus,
the monosubstituted compounds 2 and 3 are key intermedi-
ates in the transamination reactions leading to the formation
of the disubstituted products 4 and 5, respectively, as has
been proposed for the formation of compounds of type 6.
However, in these cases they could not be isolated due to
the extremely fast second transamination reaction leading to
the disubstituted products.[25,26] To the best of our knowl-
edge, examples of asymmetrically substituted p-quinones,
such as 2 and 3, are extremely rare in the literature.[28]
Table 1. Redox potentials of the ligands 2–5 and complex 7.[a]
ox1
1=2
ox2
1=2
red1
1=2
E
(DEp)[b]
E
(DEp)[b]
E
(DEp)[b]
E
(DEp)[b]
red2
1=2
2
3
4
5
7
1.04[c]
n.o.[e]
n.o.
n.o.
n.o.
0.76 (65)
ꢀ1.43 (70)
ꢀ1.48 (65)
ꢀ1.50 (73)
ꢀ1.56 (75)
ꢀ1.09 (65)
ꢀ1.88[d]
ꢀ1.92[d]
ꢀ2.10[d]
ꢀ2.05[d]
ꢀ1.72 (62)
1.01[c]
1.00[c]
0.95[c]
0.11 (60)
[a] Electrochemical potentials in V from cyclic voltammetry in CH2Cl2
with 0.1m Bu4NPF6 at 298 K; scan rate: 100 mVsꢀ1; ferrocene/ferroceni-
um was used as the internal standard. [b] DEp =difference between peak
potentials in mV. [c] Anodic peak potential for irreversible oxidation.
[d] Cathodic peak potential for irreversible reduction. [e] n.o.=not ob-
served.
To test the utility of such ligands in coordination and
redox chemistry we prepared a dinuclear complex, 7, with
the doubly deprotonated form of 4. It was discovered that
compound 7 is paramagnetic, with two RuIII centers. This
compound was characterized by elemental analysis and
mass spectrometry. The RuIII complexes of this family are
known to show temperature-independent paramagnetism
(TIP).[13,30] The magnetic susceptibility of compound 7 was
measured with a SQUID setup (see Figure S3 in the Sup-
porting Information). As in previously reported cases,[11,13,30]
the spectrum was fitted by considering the system as com-
posed of dimers with a small fraction, P, of defective para-
magnetic sites[11,31] and using g, TIP, and the magnetic ex-
change, J, as free parameters; this yielded TIP=0.01ꢁ
0.01 cm3 molꢀ1, g=2.1ꢁ0.1, and J=ꢀ19ꢁ3 cmꢀ1. This anti-
ferromagnetic behavior is in agreement with previous re-
ports[11,13] and is also visible from the nonsaturated value at-
tained by the low-temperature M versus H curves. The ob-
tained value is comparable to those previously reported for
similar compounds and its slightly diminished magnitude
can probably be attributed to the reduced twisting induced
by the isopropyl substituents on the imino nitrogen atoms.
The discrepancy from the fit at lower temperatures can
probably be attributed to the presence of either the onset of
interdimer interactions or a zero-field splitting effect.[32]
1
Compounds 1–5 were characterized by H- and 13C NMR
spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and mass spectrometry.
ꢀ
Whereas compounds 4 and 5 showed only one N H signal
in their H NMR spectra, compounds 2 and 3 showed two
1
ꢀ
N H signals, which was the first evidence for the formation
of these monosubstituted species. To elucidate the bonding
situation within these compounds, we determined, through
X-ray diffraction, the crystal structure of 4 (see Figure S1 in
the Supporting Information). Even though the crystal struc-
ture of 4 has been reported previously, no detailed analysis
of the bonding situation, with respect to localization and de-
localization of electrons, was presented.[23] A look at the
bond lengths within 4 (see Figure S1 in the Supporting Infor-
2978
ꢂ 2010 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
Chem. Eur. J. 2010, 16, 2977 – 2981