Soft Scorpionate Anions as Platforms for Novel Heterocycles

Soft scorpionates have thus far been seen mainly as a family of ligands. Their chemistry is extended here to the production of novel cationic macrocycles using dihaloalkanes. By replacing the dihaloalkanes with mild oxidising agents (NO+, I2) we obtain two unique polycyclic heterocycles. The mechanism which leads to the formation of these polycyclic heterocycles is investigated using ab initio DFT calculations. Tail strike: Soft scorpionates have thus far been seen mainly as a family of ligands. Their chemistry is extended here to the production of novel cations, macrocycles and unusual polycyclic heterocycles (see scheme).