Structural Diversities in Heterometallic Mn–Ca Cluster Chemistry from the Use of Salicylhydroxamic Acid: {Mn III 4 Ca 2 }, {Mn II/III 6 Ca 2 }, {Mn III/IV 8 Ca}, and {Mn III 8 Ca 2 } Complexes with Relevance to Both High- and Low-Valent States of the Oxygen-Evolving Complex
We report that one-pot reactions between the [Mn 3 O(O 2 CPh) 6 (py) x ] +/o triangular precursors and either CaBr 2 ·xH 2 O or CaCl 2 ·6H 2 O, in the presence of salicylhydroxamic acid (shaH 2 ), have afforded the heterometallic complexes [MnIII 4 Ca 2 (O 2 CPh) 4 (shi) 4 (H 2 O) 3 (Me 2 CO)] ( 1 ) and (pyH)[Mn II 2 Mn III 4 Ca 2 Cl 2 (O 2 CPh) 7 (shi) 4 (py) 4 ] ( 2 ), respectively, in good yields. Further reactions but using a more flexible synthetic scheme comprising the Mn(NO 3 ) 2 · 4 H 2 O/Ca(NO 3 ) 2 · 4 H 2 O and Mn(O 2 CPh) 2 · 2 H 2 O/Ca(ClO 4 ) 2 · 4 H 2 O "metal blends" and shaH 2 , in the presence of external base NEt 3 , led to the new complexes (NHEt 3 ) 2 [Mn III 4 Mn IV 4 Ca(OEt) 2 (shi) 10 (EtOH) 2 ] ( 3 ) and (NHEt 3 ) 4 [Mn III 8 Ca 2 (CO 3 ) 4 (shi) 8 ] ( 4 ), respectively. In all reported compounds, the anion of the tetradentate (N,O,O,O)-chelating/bridging ligand salicylhydroxime (shi 3- ), resulting from the in situ metal-ion-assisted amide-iminol tautomerism of shaH 2 , was found to bridge both Mn and Ca atoms. Complexes 1-4 exhibit a variety of different structures, metal stoichiometries, and Mn oxidation-state descriptions; 1 possesses an overall octahedral metal arrangement, 2 can be described as a Mn 4 Ca 2 octahedron bound to an additional Mn 2 unit, 3 consists of a Mn 8 "ring" surrounding a Ca II atom, and 4 adopts a rectangular cuboidal motif of eight Mn atoms accommodating two CaIIatoms. Solid-state direct-current magnetic susceptibility studies revealed the presence of predominant antiferromagnetic exchange interactions between the Mn centers, leading to S = 0 spin ground-state values for all complexes. Lastly, from a bioinorganic chemistry perspective, the reported compounds may demonstrate some relevance to both high-valent scheme ( 3 ) and lower-oxidation-level species ( 1, 2, and 4 ) of the catalytic cycle of the oxygen-evolving complex.