Electroactive oxazoline ligands

This review deals with the synthesis, properties and applications of electroactive oxazoline ligands. The redox active units include ferrocene and tetrathiafulvalene derivatives. The different synthetic methods for their preparations are reviewed, together with the solid state structures. Metal complexes based on these ligands are described. The ferrocene-oxazolines have been mainly used as electrochemical sensors, while tetrathiafulvalene (TTF)-oxazolines have served as precursors for chiral molecular precursors, in which the role of chirality is emphasized. Moreover, examples of catalytic reactions in which TTF-oxazolines are involved are also discussed. Finally, an example of a poly(thiophene-oxazoline) provided with supramolecular chirality which can be modulated by various factors is presented. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.