Design and Performance of Rigid Nanosize Multimetallic Cartwheel Pincer Compounds as Lewis-Acid Catalysts

Novel strategies for the preparation of rigid cartwheel pincer metal complexes have been developed. The aromatic backbone of these materials ensures a high rigidity, which is expected to be important for a high retention when these multimetallic nanosize complexes are applied as homogeneous catalysts in a nanomembrane reactor. The ligand precursors C 6 [C 6 H 3 (CH 2 Y) 2 -3,5] 6 ( 10, Y = NMe 2; 11, Y = SPh; 12, Y = PPh 2; 13, Y = pz = pyrazol-1-yl) have been prepared in high yields from the key intermediate C 6 [C 6 H 3 (CH 2 Br) 2 -3,5] 6 ( 9 ). The hexakis(pincer) palladium(II) complexes C 6 [(PdX)-4-C 6 H 2 (CH 2 Y) 2 -3,5] 6 ( 14, Y = SPh, L = Cl; 15, Y = PPh 2, L = Cl; 16, Y = pyrazol-1-yl, L = OAc; 17, Y = pyrazol-1-yl, L = Cl) have been prepared via direct electrophilic palladation of the corresponding ligands. The (tris)pincer ligand C 6 H 3 [Br-4-C 6 H 3 (CH 2 NMe 2 ) 2 -3,5] 3 -1,3,5 ( 20 ) was prepared via a triple-condensation reaction of 4-bromo-3,5-bis[(dimethylamino)methyl]acetophenone ( 19 ). Reaction of 20 with Pd(dba) 2 yielded the tripalladium complex C 6 H 3 [(PdBr)-4-C 6 H 3 (CH 2 NMe 2 ) 2 -3,5] 3 -1,3,5 ( 21 ). The crystal structure of 21 shows a propeller-like structure with D 3 symmetry and a fixed bromine−bromine distance of 17.4573(4) Å, approximately forming a triangle with a height of 15.2 Å. These nanosize cartwheel pincer metal complexes based on tridentate Y, C, Y ‘ pincer ligands have been used as homogeneous Lewis-acid catalysts. Moreover, the influence of the donor substituent Y on the catalytic activity of cationic mono-Y, C, Y ‘ Pd II complexes as Lewis-acid catalysts in the double Michael reaction between methyl vinyl ketone and ethyl α-cyanoacetate, as a model reaction, has been investigated. It was found that cationic N, C, N ‘ -type pincer complexes ( 1a, Y = NMe 2; 1b, Y = pz; 1c, Y = pz* = 3,5-dimethylpyrazol-1-yl; 23 ) were superior to the P, C, P ‘ - and S, C, S ‘ -pincer complexes ( 1d, Y = PPh 2; 1e, Y = SPh). The nanosize cationic tri-N, C, N ‘ Pd II complex 23 was found to have a catalytic activity per catalytic site in the double Michael reaction of the same order of magnitude as the monopincer analogue 1a ( k = 279 × 10 - 6 s - 1 for 1a vs k = 232 × 10 - 6 s - 1 for 23 ). The combination of the nanosize dimensions, the catalytic activity, and the high thermal and air stability makes these complexes excellent candidates for application in a continuous process in a nanomembrane reactor.