Two new 2,2′-bipyridine (bpy) based ligands with ancillary BODIPY chromophores attached at the 4 and 4′-positions were prepared and characterized, which vary in the substitution pattern about the BODIPY periphery by either excluding (BB1) or including (BB2) a β-alkyl substituent. Both absorb strongly throughout the visible region and are strongly emissive. The basic photophysics and electrochemical properties of BB1 and BB2 are comparable to those of the BODIPY monomers on which they are based. The solid-state structures and electronic structure calculations both indicate that there is negligible electronic communication between the BODIPY moieties and the intervening bpy spacers. Electrogenerated chemiluminescence spectra of the two Bpy-BODIPY derivatives are similar to their recorded fluorescence profiles and are strongly influenced by substituents on the BODIPY chromophores. These 2,2′-bipyridine derivatives represent a new set of ligands that should find utility in applications including light-harvesting, photocatalysis, and molecular electronics.

The reactions of cobalt(II) complexes of tetraazamacrocyclic tropocoronand (TC) ligands with nitric oxide (NO) were investigated. When [Co(TC-5,5)] was allowed to react with NO(g), the {CoNO}(8) mononitrosyl [Co(NO)(TC-5,5)] was isolated and structurally characterized. In contrast, a {Co(NO)(2)}(10) species formed when [Co(TC-6,6)] was exposed to NO(g), and the nitrito [Co(NO(2))(TC-6,6)] complex was structurally and spectroscopically characterized from the reaction mixture. The {Co(NO)(2)}(10) species was assigned as the bis(cobalt dinitrosyl) complex [Co(2)(NO)(4)(TC-6,6)] by spectroscopic comparison with independently synthesized and characterized material. These results provide the first evidence for the influence of tropocoronand ring size on the nitric oxide reactivity of the cobalt(II) complexes.

Four new Gd(III) complexes based on the 1,2-hydroxypyridinone chelator have been synthesized and evaluated as potential MRI contrast agents. Previously reported work examining Gd-TREN-1,2-HOPO (3) suggests that the 1,2-HOPO unit binds strongly and selectively to Gd(III), encouraging further study of the stability and relaxivity properties of this class of compounds. Among the new complexes presented in this paper are the homopodal Gd-Ser-TREN-1,2-HOPO (Gd-5) and three heteropodal bis-1,2-HOPO-TAM complexes (Gd-6, Gd-7, and Gd-8). Conditional stability constants were determined and all pGd values are in the range of 18.5 − 19.7, comparable to other analogous HOPO complexes and currently used commercial contrast agents. Relaxivities for all complexes are about twice those of commercial agents, ranging from 7.8 − 10.5 mM −1 s −1 (20 MHz; 25 °C), and suggest two inner-sphere water molecules in fast exchange. Luminescent measurements were used to verify the number of coordinated waters for Gd-5, and VT 17 O NMR experiments were employed for the highly soluble Gd-TREN-bis-1,2-HOPO-TAM-N3 (Gd-8) complex to measure a fast water exchange rate, 298 k ex = 1/τ M , of 5.1(±0.4) × 10 8 s −1 ( 298 τ M ∼ 2 ns).

The preparation and characterization of two mononuclear cobalt(III) tropocoronand complexes, [Co(TC-5,5)](BF4) and [Co(TC-6,6)](BPh4), are reported. The cobalt(III) centers exist in rare pseudotetrahedral conformations, with twist angles of 65° and 74° for the [Co(TC-5,5]+ and [Co(TC-6,6)]+ species, respectively. Structural and electrochemical characteristics are compared with those of newly synthesized [Ga(TC-5,5)](GaCl4) and [Ga(TC-6,6)](GaCl4) analogues. The spin state of the pseudotetrahedral [Co(TC-6,6)](BPh4) compound was determined to be S = 2, a change in spin state from the value of S = 1 that occurs in the square-planar and distorted square-planar complexes, [Co(TC-3,3)](X) (X = BPh4, BAr′4) and [Co(TC-4,4)](BPh4), respectively.

Zinc thiolate complexes containing N2S tridentate ligands were prepared to investigate their reactivity toward reactive nitrogen species, chemistry proposed to occur at the zinc tetracysteine thiolate site of nitric oxide synthase (NOS). The complexes are unreactive toward nitric oxide in the absence of dioxygen, strongly indicating that NO cannot be the species directly responsible for S-nitrosothiol formation and loss of Zn2+ at the NOS dimer interface in vivo. S-Nitrosothiol formation does occur upon exposure of zinc thiolate solutions to NO in the presence of air, however, or to NO2 or NOBF4, indicating that these reactive nitrogen/oxygen species are capable of liberating zinc from the enzyme, possibly through generation of the S-nitrosothiol. Interaction between simple Zn2+ salts and pre-formed S-nitrosothiols leads to decomposition of the –SNO moiety, resulting in release of gaseous NO and N2O. The potential biological relevance of this chemistry is discussed.