Haloperidol (1 a), a dopamine (D(2)) receptor antagonist, is in clinical use as an antipsychotic agent. Carbon/silicon exchange (sila-substitution) at the 4-position of the piperidine ring of 1 a (R(3)COH --> R(3)SiOH) leads to sila-haloperidol (1 b). Sila-haloperidol was synthesized in a new multistep synthesis, starting from tetramethoxysilane and taking advantage of the properties of the 2,4,6-trimethoxyphenyl unit as a unique protecting group for silicon. The pharmacological profiles of the C/Si analogues 1 a and 1 b were studied in competitive receptor binding assays at D(1)-D(5), sigma(1), and sigma(2) receptors. Sila-haloperidol (1 b) exhibits significantly different receptor subtype selectivities from haloperidol (1 a) at both receptor families. The C/Si analogues 1 a and 1 b were also studied for 1) their physicochemical properties (log D, pK(a), solubility in HBSS buffer (pH 7.4)), 2) their permeability in a human Caco-2 model, 3) their pharmacokinetic profiles in human and rat liver microsomes, and 4) their inhibition of the five major cytochrome P450 isoforms. In addition, the major in vitro metabolites of sila-haloperidol (1 b) in human liver microsomes were identified using mass-spectrometric techniques. Due to the special chemical properties of silicon, the metabolic fates of the C/Si analogues 1 a and 1 b are totally different.

The application of bimolecular reductive elimination to the activation of iron catalysts for alkene–diene cycloaddition is described. Key to this approach was the synthesis, characterization, electronic structure determination, and ultimately solution stability of a family of pyridine(diimine) iron methyl complexes with diverse steric properties and electronic ground states. Both the aryl-substituted, (MePDI)FeCH3 and (EtPDI)FeCH3 (RPDI = 2,6-(2,6-R2-C6H3NCMe)2C5H3N), and the alkyl-substituted examples, (CyAPDI)FeCH3 (CyAPDI = 2,6-(C6H11NCMe)2C5H3N), have molecular structures significantly distorted from planarity and S = 3/2 ground states. The related N-arylated derivative bearing 2,6-di-isopropyl aryl substituents, (iPrPDI)FeCH3, has an idealized planar geometry and exhibits spin crossover behavior from S = 1/2 to S = 3/2 states. At 23 °C under an N2 atmosphere, both (MePDI)FeCH3 and (EtPDI)FeCH3 underwent reductive elimination of ethane to form the iron dinitrogen precatalysts, [(MePDI)Fe(N2)]2(μ-N2) and [(EtPDI)Fe(N2)]2(μ-N2), respectively, while (iPrPDI)FeCH3 proved inert to C–C bond formation. By contrast, addition of butadiene to all three iron methyl complexes induced ethane formation and generated the corresponding iron butadiene complexes, (RPDI)Fe(η4-C4H6) (R = Me, Et, iPr), known precatalysts for the [2+2] cycloaddition of olefins and dienes. Kinetic, crossover experiments, and structural studies were combined with magnetic measurements and Mössbauer spectroscopy to elucidate the electronic and steric features of the iron complexes that enable this unusual reductive elimination and precatalyst activation pathway. Transmetalation of methyl groups between iron centers was fast at ambient temperature and independent of steric environment or spin state, while the intermediate dimer underwent the sterically controlled rate-determining reaction with either N2 or butadiene to access a catalytically active iron compound.

The neutral pentacoordinate silicon(IV) complexes 1 (SiS2ONC skeleton), 2 (SiSeSONC), 3 (SiTeSONC), 6/9 (SiSe2O2C), 7 (SiSe2S2C), and 8/10 (SiSe4C) were synthesized and structurally characterized by using single-crystal X-ray diffraction and multinuclear solid-state and solution-state (except for 6-9) NMR spectroscopy. With the synthesis of compounds 1-3 and 6-10, it has been demonstrated that pentacoordinate silicon compounds with soft chalcogen ligand atoms (S, Se, Te) can be stable in the solid state and in solution.

The neutral pentacoordinate silicon(IV) complexes 3 (SiClO 2 NC skeleton), 4 (SiO 3 NC), 5 (SiO 2 N 2 C), and 6 (SiClON 2 C) were synthesized. Compounds 3Ϫ6 contain a tridentate dianionic O, N,O (3Ϫ5) or O,N,N ligand (6), a phenyl ligand, and a (pseudo-)halogeno (3, 5, 6) or trifluoromethanesulfonato

A series of neutral pentacoordinate silicon(IV) complexes with an SiSONCX skeleton (X=F, Cl, Br, I, N, or C) was synthesized and structurally characterized by multinuclear solution-state and solid-state NMR spectroscopy and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. These compounds contain an identical tridentate dianionic S,N,O ligand, a monodentate (pseudo)halogeno ligand (F, Cl, Br, I, NCS, N(3), or CN), and a monodentate organyl ligand (methyl, phenyl, 4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl, or pentafluorophenyl). For most of these compounds, a dynamic equilibrium between the pentacoordinate silicon(IV) complex and two isomeric tetracoordinate silicon species in solution was observed. Most surprisingly, comparison of two series of analogous compounds containing fluoro, chloro, bromo, or iodo ligands demonstrated that pentacoordination in these series of silicon(IV) complexes is favored in the rank order I approximately Br>Cl>F; i.e., increasing the softness of the halogeno ligand favors pentacoordination.