Conformational analysis of 14- and 16-membered unsaturated oxa, thia, and selena macrocyclic ligands

Abstract

Crystallographic results retrieved from the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) have been used to perform systematic conformationai analyses of the free and metal-coordinated tigands 1,4,8,1 ltetraoxa/thia/selenacyclotetradecane, 1,5,9,13-tetraoxa/thia/selenacyclohexadecane, and their derivatives. Conformational classifications established using symmetry-modified Jarvis-Patrick cluster analysis have been displayed in torsional space by principal component analysis (PCA) plots. Relative molecular mechanics energies of free macrocycles in the observed conformations are compared with the cluster populations and the effect of metal coordination investigated. While the conformations of the free macrocycles in the solid state are those with low molecular mechanics energies, substantial reorganization is required to produce tetradentate chelating conformers, particularly with S donors. With the latter, several such conformers occur, while one predominates with O donors for both macrocycles, in agreement with molecular mechanics predictions. Factors influencing the conformations adopted are discussed.