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Updated: Aug 4, 2026

Synthesis of a Water-soluble Metal–Organic Complex Array
Published on: October 8, 2016
Aluminum complexes derived from a hexadentate salen-type Schiff base: synthesis, structure, and catalysis for cyclic
Ya Xu1, Dan Yuan, Yaorong Wang
1Key Laboratory of Organic Synthesis of Jiangsu Province, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Dushu Lake Campus, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, People's Republic of China. yrwang@suda.edu.cn yaoym@suda.edu.cn.
Abstract:
Different aluminum complexes were synthesized by the reaction of aluminum alkyls with a hexadentate salen-type Schiff base. The reaction of N,N'-bis(3,5-di-tert-butylsalicylidene)-2,2'-(ethylenedioxy)dianiline (LH2) with one equiv. of AlMe3 in toluene at 100 °C proceeded by methane elimination to produce the intermediate methyl complex [AlMeL] (1), and then subsequent intramolecular methyl migration to give the aluminum complex [AlL'] (2) [L' = (2-O-3,5-tBu2C6H2)CH[double bond, length as m-dash]NC6H4OCH2CH2OC6H4NCH(Me)(2'-O-3',5'-tBu2C6H2)]. The reaction of the same ligand with AlEt3 under the same experimental conditions involved ethane elimination, ethylene elimination and intramolecular hydrogen migration, and led to the complex [AlL''] (3) [L'' = (2-O-3,5-tBu2C6H2)CH[double bond, length as m-dash]NC6H4OCH2CH2OC6H4NCH2(2'-O-3',5'-tBu2C6H2)]. However, the interaction of two equivalents of AlMe3 and AlEt3 afforded the corresponding binuclear complexes [(AlMe2)2L] (4) and [(AlEt2)2L] (5), respectively, and no methyl or hydrogen migration was found. The solid-state structures of aluminum complexes 1-3 were determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. It was found that complexes 2-5 show a very effective catalytic activity for the cycloaddition of epoxides and CO2 in the presence of NBu4Br as a cocatalyst at atmospheric pressure.
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