Electron Transfer Reactivity, Synthesis, Surface Chemistry and Liquid-Membrane Transport of Sarcophagine-Type Poly-Aza Cage Complexes

The kinetics for outer-sphere electron transfer between a series of cobalt(II) poly-aza cage ligand complexes and the iron(III) sarcophagine-type hexa-aza cage complex, [Fe(sar)]3+ (sar = 3,6,10,13,16,19-hexaazabicyclo[6.6.6]icosane), in aqueous solution have been investigated and the Marcus correlation is used to deduce the electron self-exchange rate constant for the [Fe(sar)]3+/2+ couple from these cross-reactions. The deduced electron self-exchange rate constant is in relatively good agreement with the experimentally determined rate constant (k ex calc = 4 ´ 10 5 M -1 s -1 ; k ex obs = 8 ´ 10 5 M -1 s -1 ). The successful application of the Marcus correlation to the electron transfer reactions of the Fe cage complex is consistent with the trend for the Co, Mn, Ni and Ru cage complexes which all follow the pattern of outer-sphere electron transfer reactivity expected from the Marcus-Hush formalism. A comparison of predictions based on the Marcus correlation with the experimentally determined kinetics of an extended series of cross reactions involving cobalt cage complexes with low-spin-high-spin cobalt(III)/(II) couples shows that electron transfer reactions involving large spin changes at the metal centre are not necessarily anomalous in the context of the adiabatic Marcus-Hush formalism. The results of this study also show that for suitable systems, the Marcus correlation can be used to reliably calculate the rates of outer-sphere electron transfer cross-reactions, with reaction free-energy changes spanning the range -6 to -41 kJ mol -1 and many different combinations of initial electronic configurations. Together, these results provide a coherent and internally consistent set of experimental data in support of the Marcus-Hush formalism for outer-sphere electron transfer. The results with the caged metal-ion systems also highlight the special nature of the mechanism of electron transfer in reactions of metal-aqua ions. ¶ ..