Alkali-metal-ion-directed self-assembly of redox-active manganese(III) supramolecular boxes.

The ability to organize functional molecules into higher dimensional arrays with well-defined spatial relationships between the components is one of the major goals in supramolecular chemistry. We report here a new route for the preparation of supramolecular boxes, incorporating two types of metal ions: (i) alkali-metal ions, which induce the supramolecular architecture and essentially play a structural role in the final compounds; (ii) manganese(III) ions, which are redox-active systems and give functionality to the new cages. Our results evidence that the size of the cavity inside the box can be tuned depending on the alkali metal used, a characteristic that gives this new family of compounds the potential to act selectively against different substrates.

Influence of the geometry around the manganese ion on the peroxidase and catalase activities of Mn(III)-Schiff base complexes.

The peroxidase and catalase activities of eighteen manganese-Schiff base complexes have been studied. A correlation between the structure of the complexes and their catalytic activity is discussed on the basis of the variety of systems studied. Complexes 1-18 have the general formulae [MnL(n)(D)(2)](X)(H(2)O/CH(3)OH)(m), where L(n)=L(1)-L(13); D=H(2)O, CH(3)OH or Cl; m=0-2.

Manganese-Schiff base complexes as catalysts for water photolysis.

Four manganese(III)-Schiff base complexes (1-4) of formula [MnL(n)(H(2)O)(2)](2)(ClO(4))(2)·mH(2)O (n = 1-4; m = 0, 1) have been prepared. The multidentate H(2)L(n) Schiff base ligands consist of 3R,5R-substituted N,N'-bis(salicylidene)-1,2-diimino-2,2-dimethylethane, where R = OEt, OMe, Br or Cl. The complexes have been thoroughly characterized by elemental analysis, mass spectrometry, magnetic susceptibility measurements, IR, UV, paramagnetic (1)H NMR and EPR spectroscopies.