Co-ordination of the chiral N,O-ligand 2-[(1S, 2S, 5R)(-)-menthol]pyridine to molybdenum(VI) and vanadium(IV) oxo complexes -: Crystal structures of [MoO2{2-(-)-menthol-pyridine}2] and [VO{2-(-)menthol-pyridine}2]

Reaction of the chiral 1-pyridin-2-yl-menthol ligand (1) with [VO(acac)(2)] and [MoO2(acac)(2)] results in the formation of the metal-ore complexes [VO(N-O)(2)] (2) and [MoO2(N-O)(2)] (3), where N-O=2-[(-)-menthol]-pyridine. The molecular structures of (2) and (3) have been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, which revealed the expected square-pyramidal geometry for (2) with the pyridine ring nitrogens mutually trans, and the expected slightly distorted octahedral arrangement of (3) with cis di-oxo ligands. Both metal-ore compounds (2) and (3) have demonstrated the ability to catalyse the asymmetric oxidation of prochiral olefins and sulfides with H2O2 or tBuOOH as the oxidant. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd, All rights reserved.