Issue 37, 2020

Redox-controlled chalcogen and pnictogen bonding: the case of a sulfonium/stibonium dication as a preanionophore for chloride anion transport

Abstract

Our interest in the chemistry of tunable chalcogen and pnictogen bond donors as Lewis acidic platforms for the complexation and transport of anions has led us to investigate examples of such compounds that can be activated by redox events. Here, we describe the synthesis of [o-MePhS(C6H4)SbPh3]2+ ([3]2+) and [o-MePhS(C6H4)Sb(p-Tol)3]2+ ([4]2+), two dicationic stibonium/sulfonium bifunctional Lewis acids which were obtained by methylation of the phenylthioether derivatives [o-PhS(C6H4)SbPh3]+ ([1]+) and [o-PhS(C6H4)Sb(p-Tol)3]+ ([2]+), respectively. An evaluation of the chloride anion transport properties of these derivatives using chloride-loaded POPC unilamellar vesicles shows that the activity of the monocations [1]+ and [2]+ greatly exceeds that of the dications [3]2+ and [4]2+, a phenomenon that we assign to the higher lipophilicity of the monocationic compounds. Harnessing this large transport activity differential, we show that [4]2+ can be used as a prechloridophore that is readily activated by reduction of the sulfonium moiety. Indeed, [4]2+ reacts with GSH to afford [2]+ as an active transporter. This activation, which has been monitored in aqueous solution, can also be carried out in situ, in the presence of the chloride-loaded POPC unilamellar vesicles.

Graphical abstract: Redox-controlled chalcogen and pnictogen bonding: the case of a sulfonium/stibonium dication as a preanionophore for chloride anion transport

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
12 Aug 2020
Accepted
28 Aug 2020
First published
10 Sep 2020
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2020,11, 10107-10112

Redox-controlled chalcogen and pnictogen bonding: the case of a sulfonium/stibonium dication as a preanionophore for chloride anion transport

G. Park and F. P. Gabbaï, Chem. Sci., 2020, 11, 10107 DOI: 10.1039/D0SC04417B

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements