Reaction of tin porphyrins with vicinal diols.

Reactions of tin porphyrins with vicinal diols were investigated. Treatment of (TTP)Sn(CCPh)(2) or (TTP)Sn(NHtolyl)(2) with pinacol and 2,3-diphenylbutane-2,3-diol afforded diolato complexes (TTP)Sn[OC(Me)(2)C(Me)(2)O] (1) and (TTP)Sn[OC(Ph)(Me)C(Ph)(Me)O] (2), respectively. Both complexes underwent C-C cleavage reactions to give (TTP)Sn(II) and ketones. Reaction of (TTP)Sn(CCPh)(2) with 1 equivalent of o-catechol generated (TTP)Sn(CCPh)(OC(6)H(4)OH) (3), which subsequently transformed into (TTP)Sn(OC(6)H(4)O) (4). With excess catechol, disubstituted (TTP)Sn(OC(6)H(4)OH)(2) (5) was obtained. (TTP)Sn(CCPh)(OCHRCHROH) (R = H, 6; R = Ph, 8) and (TTP)Sn(OCHRCHROH)(2) (R = H, 7; R = Ph, 9) were obtained analogously by treatment of (TTP)Sn(CCPh)(2) with appropriate diols. In the presence of dioxygen, tin porphyrin complexes were found to promote the oxidative cleavage of vicinal diols and the oxidation of alpha-ketols to alpha-diketones. Possible reaction mechanisms involving diolato or enediolato intermediates are discussed. The molecular structure of (TTP)Sn(CCPh)(OC(6)H(4)OH) (3) was determined by X-ray crystallography.