Tris(benzoimidazol)amine (L) complexes of pnictogen(iii) and pnictogen(v) cations and assessment of the [LP]3+/[LPF2]3+ redox couple

Ala'aeddeen Swidan; Riccardo Suter; Charles L B Macdonald; Neil Burford

doi:10.1039/c8sc01682h

Tris(benzoimidazol)amine (L) complexes of pnictogen(iii) and pnictogen(v) cations and assessment of the [LP]³⁺/[LPF₂]³⁺ redox couple

Chem Sci. 2018 Jun 19;9(26):5837-5841. doi: 10.1039/c8sc01682h. eCollection 2018 Jul 14.

Authors

Ala'aeddeen Swidan¹, Riccardo Suter², Charles L B Macdonald¹, Neil Burford²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry , University of Windsor , Windsor , Ontario N9B 3P4 , Canada . Email: cmacd@uwindsor.ca.
² Department of Chemistry , University of Victoria , Victoria , British Columbia V8W 3V6 , Canada . Email: nburford@uvic.ca ; Email: risuter@uvic.ca.

Abstract

A series of cationic complexes involving a pnictogen(iii) (Pn = P, As, Sb) centre and the tetradentate ligand tris((1-ethyl-benzoimidazol-2-yl)methyl)amine (BIMEt₃) have been synthesized and comprehensively characterized. Oxidation of [P(BIMEt₃)]³⁺ with XeF₂ provides access to [PF₂(BIMEt₃)]³⁺ representing the first structurally characterized example of a phosphorus(v) centred trication.