Diphenoxido‐Bridged Co II and Zn II Complexes of Tripodal N 2 O 2 Ligands: Stabilisation of M II ‐Coordinated Phenoxyl Radical Species

Three new tripodal ligands with an N 2 O 2 donor set, namely 2-tert-butyl-6-({(2-hydroxybenzyl)[2-(2-pyridyl)ethyl]amino}-methyl)-4-methylphenol (H 2 L 1 ), 2-tert-butyl-6-({(2-hydroxybenzyl)[2-(2-pyridyl)ethyl]amino}methyl)-4-methoxy-phenol (H 2 L 2 ) and 2-tert-butyl-6-({[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl]-(2-hydroxybenzyl)amino}methyl)-4-methoxyphenol (H 2 L 3 ) have been synthesised. Treatment of the ligands with Co-(CH 3 CO 2 ) 2 ·4H 2 O or [Zn(H 2 O) 6 ][ClO 4 ] 2 in the presence of Et 3 N provides the corresponding Co II and Zn" complexes of composition [M II 2 (L 1 ) 2 ] [M = Co (1) (single-crystals are a solvate with the composition [Co II 2 (L 1 ) 2 ]·2CHCl 3 , i.e. 1·2CHCl 3 ); M = Zn (2)],…