Richness of isomerism in labile octahedral Werner-type cobalt(II) complexes demonstrated by 19F NMR spectroscopy: structure and stability.

The cobalt(II) complexes [CoL2(R2-Py)2] (1-4) where HLA = 1,1,1-trifluoro-5,5-dimethyl-2,4-hexanedione, R2-Py = 4-methylpyridine (1), HLB = 4,4,4-trifluoro-1-(2-thienyl)-1,3-butanedione, R2-Py = 4-methylpyridine (2), 4-phenylpyridine (3) and S-(-)-1-(4-pyridyl)ethanol (4) were prepared by two-step reactions. X-ray structure analysis of [CoLA2(CH3-Py)2] revealed the {trans(N)-trans(CF3)-trans} configuration for the complex obtained by crystallization from ethanol. A dynamic equilibrium between the five possible stereoisomers was observed for each complex 1-4 in solution by 19F NMR spectroscopy. The criteria used for full NMR assignment (180-265 K) include comparison of integral ratios, cis(N) and trans(N) differentiation in presence of the chiral amine [S-(-)-1-(4-pyridyl)ethanol], effect of solvent polarity on the relative stabilities of the five isomers and observation of trans influences in a mixture of complexes. Thermodynamic parameters for the equilibria between the isomers of 2 in CD2Cl2 (DeltaHi,j, DeltaSi,j and Ki,j) were obtained from signal integrals. The two trans(N) isomers are slightly more stable than the three cis(N) isomers at low temperature [DeltaGdegreesi,j (max) = 2.8 kJ mol(-1) at 179.8 K], but this stability difference almost vanishes with increasing temperature [DeltaGdegreesi,j (max) = 1.0 kJ mol(-1) at 265.0 K]. The values found for DeltaHdegreesi,j are relatively small and largely entropy compensated.