Exploring Mn-O bonding in the context of an electronically flexible secondary coordination sphere: synthesis of a Mn(III)-oxo

Complexes containing manganese-oxygen bonds have been implicated in a variety of biological and synthetic processes. Herein, we describe the synthesis of a family of stable, high-spin trigonal bipyramidal manganese complexes of the electronically flexible ligand tris(5-cyclohexylimino- pyrrol-2-ylmethyl) amine [H3N(pi(Cy))(3)] featuring apical water, hydroxyl, and oxo ligands. Terminal Mn-III-O complexes are rare and the formation of this species was achieved from a variety of reagents including O-2, PhIO and NO2-. Described herein is the preparation, structural and electronic properties of these manganese complexes.