Charge frustration in ligand design and functional group transfer

Munz D, Meyer K (2021)


Publication Type: Journal article, Review article

Publication year: 2021

Journal

DOI: 10.1038/s41570-021-00276-3

Abstract

Molecules with different resonance structures of similar importance, such as heterocumulenes and mesoionics, are prominent in many applications of chemistry, including ‘click chemistry’, photochemistry, switching and sensing. In coordination chemistry, similar chameleonic/schizophrenic entities are referred to as ambidentate/ambiphilic or cooperative ligands. Examples of these had remained, for a long time, limited to a handful of archetypal compounds that were mere curiosities. In this Review, we describe ambiphilicity — or, rather, ‘charge frustration’ — as a general guiding principle for ligand design and functional group transfer. We first give a historical account of organic zwitterions and discuss their electronic structures and applications. Our discussion then focuses on zwitterionic ligands and their metal complexes, such as those of ylidic and redox-active ligands. Finally, we present new approaches to single-atom transfer using cumulated small molecules and outline emerging areas, such as bond activation and stable donor–acceptor ligand systems for reversible 1e chemistry or switching. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

Authors with CRIS profile

How to cite

APA:

Munz, D., & Meyer, K. (2021). Charge frustration in ligand design and functional group transfer. Nature Reviews Chemistry. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41570-021-00276-3

MLA:

Munz, Dominik, and Karsten Meyer. "Charge frustration in ligand design and functional group transfer." Nature Reviews Chemistry (2021).

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