A series of manganese(II) and oxomanganese(IV) complexes
supported
by neutral, pentadentate ligands with varied equatorial ligand-field
strength (N3pyQ, N2py2I, and N4pyMe2) were synthesized
and then characterized using structural and spectroscopic methods.
On the basis of electronic absorption spectroscopy, the [MnIV(O)(N4pyMe2)]2+ complex has the weakest equatorial
ligand field among a set of similar MnIV-oxo species. In
contrast, [MnIV(O)(N2py2I)]2+ shows the strongest
equatorial ligand-field strength for this same series. We examined
the influence of these changes in electronic structure on the reactivity
of the oxomanganese(IV) complexes using hydrocarbons and thioanisole
as substrates. The [MnIV(O)(N3pyQ)]2+ complex,
which contains one quinoline and three pyridine donors in the equatorial
plane, ranks among the fastest MnIV-oxo complexes in C–H
bond and thioanisole oxidation. While a weak equatorial ligand field
has been associated with high reactivity, the [MnIV(O)(N4pyMe2)]2+ complex is only a modest oxidant. Buried
volume plots suggest that steric factors dampen the reactivity of
this complex. Trends in reactivity were examined using density functional
theory (DFT)-computed bond dissociation free energies (BDFEs) of the
MnIIIO–H and MnIV O bonds. We
observe an excellent correlation between MnIVO
BDFEs and rates of thioanisole oxidation, but more scatter is observed
between hydrocarbon oxidation rates and the MnIIIO–H
BDFEs.