Poster Presentation 21st International Conference on Biological Inorganic Chemistry 2025

Controlling Redox Potential of a Manganese(III)−Bis(hydroxo) Complex through Protonation and the Hydrogen-Atom Transfer Reactivity (#555)

Yuri Lee 1 , Jaeheung Cho 1
  1. UNIST, Ulsan, South Korea

A series of mononuclear manganese(III)−hydroxo and −aqua complexes, [MnIII(TBDAP)(OH)2]+ (1), [MnIII(TBDAP)(OH)(OH2)]2+ (2) and [MnIII(TBDAP)(OH2)2]3+ (3), were prepared from a manganese(II) precursor and confirmed using various methods including X-ray crystallography. Thermodynamic analysis showed that protonation from hydroxo to aqua species resulted in increased redox potentials (E1/2) in the order of 1 (−0.15 V) < 2 (0.56 V) < 3 (1.11 V), while pKa values exhibited a reverse trend in the order of 3 (3.87) < 2 (11.84). Employing the Bordwell Equation, the O−H bond dissociation free energies (BDFE) of [MnII(TBDAP)(OH)(OH2)]+ and [MnII(TBDAP)(OH2)2]2+, related to the driving force of 1 and 2 in hydrogen atom transfer (HAT), were determined as 75.3 and 77.3 kcal mol−1, respectively. It was found that the thermodynamic driving force of 2 in HAT becomes greater than that of 1 as the redox potential of 2 increases through protonation from 1 to 2. Kinetic studies on electrophilic reactions using a variety of substrates revealed that 1 is only weakly reactive with O−H bonds, whereas 2 can activate aliphatic C−H bonds in addition to O−H bonds. The reaction rates increased by 1.4 × 104-fold for the O−H bonds by 2 over 1, which was explained by the difference in BDFE and the tunneling effect. Furthermore, 3, possessing the highest redox potential value, was found to undergo an aromatic C−H bond activation reaction under mild conditions. These results provide valuable insights into enhancing electrophilic reactivity by modulating the redox potential of manganese(III)−hydroxo and −aqua complexes through protonation.