Alternative cocrystallization of 'almost' enantiomers and true enantiomers in some cis-beta-organocobalt salen-type complexes with alpha-amino acids

摘要

The reaction of a chiral cis-beta-organocobalt salen-type complex, 1, racemic mixture of Delta and Lambda enantiomers, with enantiomerically pure L-histidine and a non-chiral monocationic cobalt complex, 3, resulted quite unexpectedly in the cocrystallization of diastereomers. Each diastereomer is a dicobalt monocationic complex, where four positions around one metal center are occupied by the tetradentate ligand in a cis fashion, the remaining two positions being occupied by L-histidinate. Histidinate further axially coordinates the other Co atom through the nitrogen of the imidazole residue. The two diastereomers are related by a quasi-symmetry center. In this case, the opposite helical chirality of the metal complex 1 prevails over the identical configuration of the asymmetric carbon in the crystallization process and the diastereomers behave as if they were enantiomers.The reaction of the same cobalt complexes 1 and 3 with DL-histidine led to the formation of two pairs of enantiomers, which crystallized separately as racemic compound. Therefore, in this case, the chirality of the asymmetric center is the property that allows the mutual selective recognition of the "true" enantiomers and drives their cocrystallization. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.