Synthesis and Purification of Aluminium Bis(imino)acenaphthene Quinone Complexes
A recent result in the Anstey research group noted the peculiar structural motif of a “butterflied” ligand when reduced to the di-anionic catecholate oxidation state. This was noted with gallium as the metal center, and, in an effort to understand how general this motif is, I synthesized analogous aluminum complexes using the same ligand: bis(imino)acenaphthene quinone (BIAN). The various motifs of the aluminum complexes have different properties. Determining exactly what these properties are is important for various purification techniques of the Aluminum complexes, and future complexes synthesized. Crystallization data confirmed that I’ve isolated the desired tris complex. Separate data from other experiments also indicates that I’ve made the potassium salt of my ligand, something that didn’t happen when the gallium complexes were synthesized. The characteristics of the salt will be of use to future research so researchers can know when this is synthesized and how to avoid it. I am also investigating the electron carrying capacities of the various motifs. I expect them to be similar to that of the gallium complexes, but the electrochemistry data thus far has presented some confounding graphs, which I will address during the next few weeks. Overall, my work with aluminum will lay down the foundation for future research with other metal compounds used as metal centers for the BIAN ligand.