Novel rhenium(III, IV, and V) tetradentate N2O2 Schiff base mononuclear and dinuclear complexes.

Reaction of (Bu4N)[ReOCl4] with the tetradentate Schiff base ligand α,α'-[(1,1-dimethylethylene)dinitrilo]di-o-cresol (sal2ibnH2) yields cis-[Re(V)OCl(sal2ibn)], which quickly forms trans-[μ-O(Re(V)O(sal2ibn))2] in solution. The dinuclear complex can also be isolated by the addition of base (Et3N) to the reaction mixture. Conversely, the mononuclear complex can be trapped as cis-[Re(V)O(NCS)(sal2ibn)] by addition of (Bu4N)SCN to the reaction mixture. Reduction of cis-[Re(V)O(NCS)sal2ibn] with triphenylphosphine gives the rare trans-[Re(III)(NCS)(PPh3)(sal2ibn)] and unique μ-oxo Re(IV) dimer trans-[μ-O(Re(IV)(NCS)(sal2ibn))2]. All of the complexes were characterized by (1)H and (13)C NMR, FT-IR spectroscopy, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), cyclic voltammetry and single crystal X-ray diffraction.