There
has been an increasing interest in chemistry involving nitrogen
oxyanions, largely due to the environmental hazards associated with
increased concentrations of these anions leading to eutrophication
and aquatic “dead zones”. Herein, we report the synthesis
and characterization of a suite of MNO
x
complexes (M = Co, Zn: x = 2, 3). Reductive deoxygenation
of cobalt bis(nitrite) complexes with bis(boryl)pyrazine is faster
for cobalt than previously reported nickel, and pendant O-bound nitrito
ligand is still readily deoxygenated, despite potential implication
of an isonitrosyl primary product. Deoxygenation of zinc oxyanion
complexes is also facile, despite zinc being unable to stabilize a
nitrosyl ligand, with liberation of nitric oxide and nitrous oxide,
indicating N–N bond formation. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
is effective for discriminating the types of nitrogen in these molecules.
ESI mass spectrometry of a suite of M(NO
x
)
y
(x = 2, 3 and y = 1, 2) shows that the primary form of ionization is loss
of an oxyanion ligand, which can be alleviated via the addition of
tetrabutylammonium (TBA) as a nonintuitive cation pair for the
neutral oxyanion complexes. We have shown these complexes to be subject
to deoxygenation, and there is evidence for nitrogen oxyanion reduction
in several cases in the ESI plume. The attractive force between cation
and neutral is explored experimentally and computationally and attributed
to hydrogen bonding of the nitrogen oxyanion ligands with ammonium
α-CH2 protons. One example of ESI-induced reductive
dimerization is mimicked by bulk solution synthesis, and that product
is characterized by X-ray diffraction to contain two Co(NO)2
+ groups linked by a highly conjugated diazapolyene.