The benzodiselenazoles (BDS) introduced in this report fulfill, for the first time, all the prerequisites for non-covalent high-precision chalcogen-bonding catalysis in the focal point of conformationally immobilized σ holes on strong selenium donors in a neutral scaffold. Rational bite-angle adjustment to the long Se-C bonds was the key for BDS design. For the unprecedented BDS motif, synthesis of 12 analogs from o-xylene, crystal structure, σ hole variation strategies, optoelectronic properties, theoretical and experimental anion binding as well as catalytic activity are reported. Chloride binding increases with the depth of the σ holes down to KD = 11 μM in THF. Catalytic activities follow the same trend and culminate in rate enhancements for transfer hydrogenation of quinolines beyond 100000.
CITATION STYLE
Benz, S., Mareda, J., Besnard, C., Sakai, N., & Matile, S. (2017). Catalysis with chalcogen bonds: Neutral benzodiselenazole scaffolds with high-precision selenium donors of variable strength. Chemical Science, 8(12), 8164–8169. https://doi.org/10.1039/c7sc03866f
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