Electron transfer kinetics of cobaloxime complexes

The rates of oxidation of CoII(dmgBF2)2(OH2)2 by CoIII(NH3)5X2+ (X = Br−, Cl−, and N3−) have been studied at 25 °C in 0.10 M LiClO4. The rate constants are 50 ± 9, 2.6 ± 0.2, and 5.9 ± 1.0 M−1 s−1 for X = Br−, Cl−, and N3−, respectively, in 0.01 M acetate buffer at pH 4.7. The relative rates are consistent with the inner-sphere bridging mechanism established earlier by Adin and Espenson for the analogous reactions of CoII(dmgH)2(OH2)2. The rate constants with CoII(dmgBF2)2(OH2)2 typically are ~103 times smaller and this is attributed largely to the smaller driving force for the CoII(dmgBF2)2(OH2)2 complex. The outer-sphere oxidations of cobalt(II) sepulchrate by CoIII(dmgH)2(OH2)2+ (pH 4.76–7.35, acetate, MES, and PIPES buffers) and CoIII(dmgBF2)2(OH2)2+ (pH 3.3–7.42, chloroacetate, acetate, MES, and PIPES buffers) have been studied. The pH dependence gives the following rate constants (M−1 s−1) for the species indicated: (1.55 ± 0.09) × 105 (CoIII(dmgBF2)2(OH2)2+); (5.5 ± 0.3) × 103 (CoII(dmgH)2(OH2)2+); (3.1 ± 0.5) × 102 (CoIII(dmgH)2(OH2)(OH)); (2.5 ± 0.3) × 102 (CoIII(dmgBF2)2(OH2)(OH)). The known reduction potentials for cobalt(III) sepulchrate and the diaqua complexes, and the self-exchange rate for cobalt(II/III) sepulchrate, are used to estimate the self-exchange rate constants for the dioximate complexes. Comparisons to other reactions with cobalt sepulchrate indicates best estimates of the self-exchange rate constants are ~2.4 × 10−2 M−1 s−1 for CoII/III(dmgH)2(OH2)2and ~5.7 × 10−3 M−1 s−1 for CoII/III(dmgBF2)2(OH2)2. Key words: electron transfer, cobaloxime, inner sphere, outer sphere, self-exchange.