E0031: Synthesis and Structure of Transition Metal Complexes of 2-Thienyl-2-Pyridyl Ketone

Di-2-pyridyl ketone (DPK) and its analogues have been studied for over 30 years and have been found to have wide utility in coordination chemistry as metal chelators. When DPK is allowed to interact with various metal cations, including copper(II), chromium(III), platinum(II), silver(I), and nickel(II), it has been shown that it will coordinate to these metal cations utilizing combinations of the pyridine nitrogens and carbonyl oxygen. Furthermore, DPK also hydrates to form a stable geminal diols, which also act as ligating sites. Because of the variety of coordination possibilities, these ligands may prove useful in extended systems as organo-metal conducting polymers and electron transfer systems. Therefore, the synthesis of a series of novel DPK analogues designed to better understand their metal coordination chemistry is greatly desired. Many variables can be investigated including ring size (5 or 6 membered), coordinating element (O, N, and S), and metal cation. Synthesizing these ligands and studying their coordination properties by X-ray structural analysis can yield much information about the geometric and electronic factors involved in complexation. shown. Currently, our efforts have been directed toward the synthesis and coordination properties of 2-thienyl-2-pyridyl ketone (I). The crystal structures of two complexes with copper(II) and progress on the structure of a nickel(II) complex will be described.