Overview
Project status: In progress
Rationale: This project will develop metal complexes that are chiral Lewis acids with the potential to be used as catalysts. Such compounds may also have biological applications, for instance, as ligands for diagnostic imaging (with the metals Gd3+ and Tc). The complexes have been designed to have helical structures, which are of interest in supermolecular architectures.
- Organisational unit
- Lead unit Science and Engineering Faculty
- Research area
- Chemistry
Details
The cores of these ligands are either nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) or methyliminodiacetic acid (MIDA, shown in Scheme 1).
Method: We have recently developed a robust synthetic route to a small library of amino acid-containing compounds with the potential to be used as ligands. The cores of these ligands are either nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) or methyliminodiacetic acid (MIDA, shown in Scheme 1).
These compounds are designed to bind metals through the apical tertiary amine and either the carboxylate groups of the free acids or through deprotonation of the amides. Characteristic colour changes are observed on amide deprotonation, as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. pH dependence of colour, and proposed metal coordination environments, for a copper(II) complex in this project
Figure 1. pH dependence of colour, and proposed metal coordination environments, for a copper(II) complex in this project
Current work involves incorporating further amino acids into longer strands, to form peptide mimics, and incorporating second metal binding sites. The goal is to investigate whether the compounds will form metal helicates, and whether the chirality of the amino acid will determine the twist of the helicate.
Publications and output
-
Related: Synthesis of dianionic and trianionic chiral, chelating ligands based on amino acids
-
Info for prospective students: Students will acquire skills in organic and inorganic synthesis, chromatography, NMR, IR and UV spectroscopy.
