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ꢀ408C, the half-life of 3 in [H6]acetone was 5600 s, whereas in
[D6]acetone it was found to be 6800 s (kinetic isotope effect
(KIE)=1.2). The observation of such acetone-derived products
and an extended lifetime in perdeuterated solvent supports
the postulate that 3 oxidizes acetone by rate-limiting HAA
during its thermal decay. This is an important discovery, as ace-
Table 1. Nickel–ligand bond distances for 2 and 3.
NiꢀOCO2H
1.871
NiꢀN(py)
1.817
NiꢀN(amid)
2@1.895
2[a][15a]
2[b]
4@1.87
2[c]
1.90
1.96
1.80
1.84
2@1.90
2@1.99
2@1.93
3[b]
2@1.84
tone contains a very strong CꢀH bond (BDE=93 kcalmolꢀ1)[27]
,
3[c]
suggesting that 3 is a very capable oxidant.
[a] Determined using XRD; [b] determined using EXAFS; [c] determined
using DFT.
We investigated further the HAA reactivity of 3 towards ex-
ternal substrates by its reaction with molecules containing
somewhat weaker XꢀH bonds (X=C, O; we were limited in
our substrate scope by solubility issues at low temperature). At
ꢀ408C, 3 reacted with 100 equivalents of 2,6-di-tert-butylphe-
nol (DTBP), as evidenced by the disappearance (600 s) of the
electronic absorption features attributed to 3 (see the Support-
ing Information, Figure S3). This resulted in the appearance of
a new band at lmax =555 nm, which we attribute to the forma-
tion of the phenoxyl radical as a result of HAA from DTBP by
3.[28] EPR spectroscopy confirmed the formation of a phenoxyl
radical (see the Supporting Information, Figure S4). After warm-
ing to room temperature, 3,3’,5,5’-tetra-tert-butyl-[1,1’-bis(cy-
clohexane)]-2,2’,5,5’-tetraene-4,4’-dione (see the Supporting In-
formation, Scheme S1) and traces of 2,6-di-tert-butylquinone
were detected by GC-MS. These products are formed by radical
coupling or thermal decomposition, respectively, of the parent
2,6-di-tert-butylphenoxyl radical. A pseudo-first-order rate con-
stant (kobs) for this reaction was determined by plotting the
change in absorbance features for 3 against time and fitting
the resulting curve (see the Supporting Information, Figure S5).
A second-order rate constant (k2) was calculated from the
slope of a linear plot of kobs values determined under a series
of substrate concentrations (see the Supporting Information,
Figure S6). The k2 value determined for the reaction between 3
NiꢀO bond (ca. 1.65 ꢁ) resulted in very poor fits, ruling out the
possibility of 3 being a NiIII=O species. Comparison of the
EXAFS fits for 2 and 3 suggests there are little to no structural
differences in the two complexes. The fits acquired for 2
match well with the X-ray diffraction determined bond distan-
ces obtained for 2.[15a] We have employed DFT to further un-
derstand the structural properties of 3 (Table 1, Figure 3). The
DFT predictions indicate that the bicarbonate ligand in 3
would remain bound in a monodentate fashion, in good
agreement with the EXAFS analyses of a first coordination
sphere of four donors. Furthermore, the computational analy-
ses predicted that the d7 NiIII ion in 3 would remain in a square
planar coordination environment analogous to that seen for 2,
in good agreement with the EPR measurements that indicate
the NiIII ion sits in a square planar environment. DFT also pre-
dicted that the NiꢀOCO2H and NiꢀN(py) bond distances in 3
would be 1.96 ꢁ and 1.84 ꢁ (Table 1), respectively, in reasona-
bly good agreement with the EXAFS analyses showing two
O/N scatterers at approximately 1.84 ꢁ. The combination of
EXAFS and DFT predictions shows that the Ni center in 3 has
remained 4-coordinate, in a square planar environment, and
that the bicarbonate ligand is present.
and DTBP was 0.1040mꢀ1 ꢀ1, whereas for deutero-DTBP a k2
s
It is important to note that the obtained EXAFS data could
also be reasonably well fit with an OH ligand (in place of
OCO2H). Holm and co-workers demonstrated that 2 reversibly
binds CO2, and it is reasonable to suggest the affinity of 3 for
CO2 may be less than for 2.[15a,b,d] We endeavored to probe 3
using Raman spectroscopy, but failed to identify peaks that
confirmed the presence of either OH or OCO2H ligands. We
were hampered by the rich Raman spectrum of the acetone
support medium. We also failed in our efforts to obtain mass
spectrometric evidence for the molecular formula of 3, pre-
sumably as a result of the low thermal stability of 3. It is impor-
tant to note that oxidation of 1 with Magic Blue does not yield
the same spectroscopic features attributed to 3, but in fact
yields an as yet unidentified species. We therefore conclude
that 3 retains the coordinated OCO2H ligand.
value of 0.0503mꢀ1 sꢀ1 was determined, yielding a KIE value of
2.1. This KIE value is consistent with 3 performing HAA on the
DTBP OꢀH bond, and with HAA being rate-limiting.
Compound 3 was also found to react with 1-benzyl-1,4-dihy-
dronicotinamide (BNAH; CꢀH bond dissociation energy (BDE=
64 kcalmolꢀ1)) at ꢀ808C, as evidenced by a rapid disappear-
ance of the visible absorption features attributed to 3 (see the
Supporting Information, Figure S7). The product of this reac-
1
tion was identified by H NMR as 1-benzyl-1-pyridinium-3-car-
boxamide, which typically forms as a result of HAA from the
CꢀH bond of BNAH. This product formed as a result of a two-
electron oxidation of BNAH. We assume this occurs through in-
itial HAA from BNAH followed by an electron transfer from the
resultant product to another molecule of 3. In summary, 3 was
found to be a quite reactive HAA reagent capable of activating
OꢀH and CꢀH bonds at low temperatures.
Compound 3 was stable at ꢀ808C, but decayed upon warm-
ing above ꢀ408C. After thermal decay and acidic workup of
We also probed the capacity of 3 to carry out OAT. 3 was
treated with triphenylphosphine (PPh3, 50 equiv) at ꢀ808C, re-
sulting in the formation of triphenylphosphine oxide (O=PPh3,
detected by ESI-MS and 31P NMR spectroscopy) in near quanti-
tative yields (see the Supporting Information, Figure S8). OAT is
a two-electron transfer process; thus the formation of O=PPh3
from this reaction would be expected to yield a NiI product.
Me2
the reaction mixture, the protonated ligand (H2pyN2 ) was re-
covered without any indications of ligand oxidation (no evi-
dence for ligand hydroxylation or oxidative decomposition was
1
obtained by mass spectrometry or H NMR spectroscopy). In-
terestingly, ESI-MS showed the presence of trace amounts of
hydroxyacetone, pyruvic acid, and acetic acid.[26] Importantly, at
&
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Chem. Eur. J. 2015, 21, 1 – 7
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