SummaryWith a modification of the cyclization procedure of Richman & Atkins [8] the two macrocycles 1,4,7-tritosyl-ll-benzyl-l, 4,7,1l-tetraazacyclotetradecane (8) and 1,7,ll-tritosyl-4-trityl-l, 4,7,1l-tetraazacyclotetradecane (15) were prepared. After selective cleavage of the benzyl and trityl group, respectively, one obtains the two key products 1,4,7-tritosyl-1,4,7,ll-tetraazacyclotetradecane (9) and 1,7,1 l-tritosyl-lI4,7,1l-tetraazacyclotetradecane (16) which have three N-atoms protected by tosyl groups and one accessible for further reactions. To test some of the possibilities we have alkylated 9 and 16 with iodoacetamide, 1-tosyl-aziridine and acrylonitrile. After detosylation with HBr in glacial acetic acid in the presence of phenol mono-N-functionalized tetraazamacrocycles were thus obtained.Theadvantage of this synthesis is that the cyclization which is the most difficult step of the whole procedure, has to be done only once, regardless of the nature of the pendant arm. In addition a large number of derivatives can be prepared by varying the alkylation component.With Ni2+, Cu2+ and Zn2+ metal complexes of these new ligands were prepared and their IR. and VIS. spectra studied. In the case of the carbamoyl derivatives 12, 14 and 18 the Cu2+-complexes exist in two forms. Whereas at low pH the carboxamide group of the pendant arm is probably not bound to the metal ion, at high pH after deprotonation it coordinates in one of the axial positions.In contrast to open-chain ligands tetraazamacrocycles often form kinetically stable complexes even with metal ions which give tipically labile complexes [2]. This allows to study these metal complexes in strongly acidic or alkaline solutions. Moreover it is often also possible to assume that the coordination geometry and stoichiometry remains the same in the solid state and in solution. Thus one can study and correlate structures and reactivities in a simple way, similarly to what has been done for the kinetically stable Cr (111) and Co (111) complexes.
1)Part XVI, see [I].
2,