An Unexpected Coupling Reaction of 8-Quinolinolate at Elevated Temperature

Reactions of 8-hydroxyquinoline (HOQ) with elemental rare-earth and transition metal combinations or alloys at 200–300°C yielded a variety of complexes, albeit in very low yields, including two structurally characterised homometallic complexes containing an unexpected biquinolinolate ligand. Reaction of HOQ with SmCo5 alloy gives rise to the complexes [SmCo2(OQ)7] (1), [Co4(OQ)4(BQ)2] (2), and [Sm3(OQ)5(BQ)2(H2O)] (3Sm), where BQ is 2,7′-biquinoline-8,8′-diolate, resulting from an unusual coupling reaction between two OQ/HOQ species at the 2 and 7′ positions. Complexes 1–3 and HOQ co-crystal 2·2HOQ were isolated as single crystals from separate reactions although formation of other products under the reaction conditions used was likely. Analogues of 3Sm with erbium and ytterbium were obtained using respective rare-earth metal filing in combination with nickel powder. Reaction involving cobalt powder only, without any rare-earth metals, yielded a homoleptic complex containing only the 8-quinolinolate ligand i.e. [Co4(OQ)8] (4). These results highlight the rewards, in terms of rich synthetic chemistry, and pitfalls, in terms of yield and isolation, of the pseudo-solid state synthetic approach using 8-quinolinolate ligands.