Our lab has developed a modular synthesis of tris(2-aminoethyl)amine, or tren, ligands. The synthesis proceeds from inexpensive starting materials, is easily scalable, and requires minimal purification. By simply altering the aniline used in our synthesis, the aryl groups on the amido nitrogens of the ligand can be varied, changing the electronics, the steric impact and functionality of the resulting tripodal ligands. The synthesis can be further modified such that the nitrogen substitution on the three amido groups are not the same, generating asymmetric tren systems. The synthesis, structure and metalation chemistry of these ligands will be discussed. We have also discovered an intramolecular aryl-amination reaction promoted with group 4 metal complexes of this system. The C-N coupling reaction, its scope, and its prospects toward catalysis will be examined.

Exploring C–N coupling promoted at group 4 metal centers

256th National Meeting (2018)

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