A Programmable KillSwitch in NewTAML Catalysts Decouples Oxidative Reactivity from Catalyst Lifetime

Bis-amido-bis-sulfonamido, [Fe{4-NO2C6H3-1,2-(NCOCMe2NSO2)2CR1R2}(OH2)]- [2; R1/R2 = H/H (2a), H/CH3 (2b), CH3/CH3 (2c)], are NewTAML (NT) iron(III) oxidation catalysts. Herein we identify and mechanistically characterize a ligand-centered, catalyst-lifetime-controlling site (CR1R2), termed a KillSwitch (KS), that enables balancing technical performance with potential safety constraints in NT/Oxidant process design. Under catalytic conditions, CR1R2 sites containing two or one hydrogen(s), (2a, 2b, respectively), undergo deprotonation to form electron-rich ylides that accelerate NT oxidative degradation. The 2a-c series defines a KS susceptibility gradient arising from differential C-H bond acidities controlling the ylide-forming deprotonation─2a, 2b, and 2c represent high-susceptibility-, intermediate-susceptibility-, and null-susceptibility KS states, respectively, thereby providing substantial catalyst functional lifetime control with 2a < 2b ≪ 2c. Kinetic analysis gives similar 2a-c rate constants for H2O2 activation (kI) and substrate oxidation (kII), while catalyst inactivation rate constants (ki) increase markedly and differentially with increasing pH for 2a and 2b, but remain pH-independent for 2c, which degrades more slowly through a separate pathway. Access to null-KS 2c─essential for testing the KS hypothesis─required a decade-long synthetic effort culminating in the quantitative methylation of deprotonated 2b. The KS is expected to be transferable to other NTs with oxidative reactivities distinct from 2a-c, enabling a new dimension in catalyst design that broadly decouples catalytic oxidative aggression from catalyst lifetime. The KS thus provides a practical, safe, and sustainable by design strategy for balancing technical performances against catalyst lifetimes, should shorter-lived NTs become desirable in response to discoveries of postrelease NT adverse environmental effects.