Hydrogen Atom Transfer Thermodynamics of Homologous Co(III)- and Mn(III)-Superoxo Complexes: The Effect of the Metal Spin State

Systematic investigations on H atom transfer (HAT) thermodynamics of metal O adducts is of fundamental importance for the design of transition metal catalysts for substrate oxidation and/or oxygenation directly using O. Such work should help elucidate underlying electronic-structure features that govern the OO-H bond dissociation free energies (BDFEs) of metal-hydroperoxo species, which can be used to quantitatively appraise the HAT activity of the corresponding metal-superoxo complexes. Herein, the BDFEs of two homologous Co- and Mn-hydroperoxo complexes, and , were calculated to be 79.3 and 81.5 kcal/mol, respectively, employing the Bordwell relationship based on experimentally determined p values and redox potentials of the one-electron-oxidized forms, and . To further verify these values, we tested the HAT capability of their superoxo congeners, and , toward three different substrates possessing varying O-H BDFEs. Specifically, both metal-superoxo species are capable of activating the O-H bond of 4-oxo-TEMPOH with an O-H BDFE of 68.9 kcal/mol, only is able to abstract a H atom from 2,4-di--butylphenol with an O-H BDFE of 80.9 kcal/mol, and neither of them can react with 3,5-dimethylphenol with an O-H BDFE of 85.6 kcal/mol. Further computational investigations suggested that it is the high spin state of the Mn center in that renders its OO-H BDFE higher than that of , which features a low-spin Co center. The present work underscores the role of the metal spin state being as crucial as the oxidation state in modulating BDFEs.