Theoretical analysis of the [Mn2(μ-oxo)2(μ- carboxylato)2]+ core

Simon Petrie, Sumitra Mukhopadhyay, William H. Armstrong*, Robert Stranger

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    10 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The first example of a dinuclear manganese complex containing two oxo and two carboxylate bridges. [Mn2 (μ-O)2(μ-O 2CArTol)2(bpy)2]+ (where bpy = 2,2′-bipyridine, and ArTolCO2 = 2,6-di(p-tolyl)benzoate), was reported recently (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2003, 125, 13010). X-ray crystallographic analysis performed on this complex reveals a trapped mix-valence species as evidenced, for example, by very different metal-ligand bond distances at the Mn111 and MnIV centers. The fact that there are rather bulky bridging carboxylate ligands present in this recently reported dinuclear species raises the question as to whether they affect the extent of valence trapping and the metrical parameters in general. Specifically, it was thought that intramolecular nonbonded contacts could play an important role. In the work reported here, density functional theory calculations were used to address this issue. Structural parameters obtained from calculations on a model compound bearing sterically small bridging carboxylates, [Mn2(μ-O)2(μ-O2CH) 2(bpy)2]+, are in good agreement with the experimentally determined single crystal X-ray structure. Thus, the sterically large carboxylate bridges in [Mn2(μ-O)2(μ-O 2CArTol)2(bpy)2]+ appear not to have a significant effect on the metal-ligand bond distances and angles. There is calculated to be minimal Mn⋯Mn bonding despite contraction of the Mn⋯Mn distance relative to related complexes. In addition to calculations on the mixed-valence MnIIIMnIV complex, various electronic configurations of the corresponding MnIIIMn III and MnIIIMnIV complexes are explored. Although our calculations support assignment of [Mn2 (μ-O) 2(μ-O2CH)2(bpy)2]+ as a valence-trapped MnIIIMnIV configuration involving high-spin MnIII, a delocalized configuration arising from low-spin MnIII is calculated to lie very close in energy. The energetic proximity of the delocalized configuration is attributed to an effective crossed-exchange mechanism, which permits mixing of an eg-based orbital (nominally on high-spin MnIII) with a vacant t 2g-based orbital (nominally on MnIV).

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)4871-4877
    Number of pages7
    JournalPhysical Chemistry Chemical Physics
    Volume6
    Issue number20
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 21 Oct 2004

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