Computational design of mixed-ligand adducts of Co aminovinyl ketonates with redox-active o-quinones and their derivatives

The adducts of cobalt aminovinyl ketonates with o-benzoquinones, o-benzoquinone imines, and o-benzoquinone diimines were studied by the density functional theory method (B3LYP*/6-311++G(d,p)). For all of the compounds, the ground states are low-spin structures containing a trivalent cobalt atom and a redox-active ligand in the semiquinonate form. The bulky substituents at the bis-chelate and ligand nitrogen atoms favor a decrease in the energy difference between the low-spin and high-spin isomers of the adducts containing Co-LS(III) and Co-HS(II) atoms, respectively. These compounds can exhibit valence tautomerism in the crystalline state, but the relatively low stabilization energies of the high-spin isomers in solutions may induce a competing process: dissociation into the original bis-chelate and redox-active ligand.