Studies of rheniumtricarbonyl complexes of tripodal pyridyl-based ligands

The reaction of N-benzoyl and N-acetyl tris(pyridin-2-yl)methylamine 1b and 1c (LH = tpmbaH and tpmaaH) with Re(CO)₅Br] has been investigated and shown to proceed via the initial formation of a cationic rheniumtricarbonyl complex (LH)Re(CO)₃]Br in which coordination of the ligand occurs via the three pyridine rings. For tpmbaH 1b, but not tpmaaH 1c, this initial complex 2b readily undergoes the loss of HBr to give a neutral octahedral complex 4b (L)Re(CO)₃] where coordination occurs via two of the pyridine rings and the deprotonated amide nitrogen. The ¹H NMR spectrum of the latter complex 4b is very unusual in that at room temperature the signals for the 3-H protons on the coordinated pyridine rings are not visible due to extreme broadening of these resonances. Comparison with the analogous complex 7 from N-benzoyl bis(pyridin-2-yl)methylamine 6b (bpmbaH) confirms that this is due to rotation of the uncoordinated pyridine ring. The structure of the cationic complex 3d (LH)Re(CO)₃]Br formed from N-benzyl tris(pyridin-2-yl)methylamine 1d (bz-tpmaH) is also discussed. The crystal structures of complexes (tpmba)Re(CO)₃] 4b, (bz-tpmaH)Re(CO)₃]Br 3d and (bpmba)Re(CO)₃] 7 have been determined. In all complexes the coordination geometry around Re is distorted octahedral with a fac-{Re(CO)₃}⁺ core.