One-step templated synthesis of chiral organometallic salicyloxazoline complexes

BACKGROUND: The general approach to the synthesis of metal complexes begins with ligand synthesis, followed by ligand reaction with metal salts to afford organometallic complexes. Our research group first reported a one-pot multicomponent synthesis of chiral oxazolinyl–zinc complexes, in the presence of a large amount of ZnCl(2) (0.4–2.6 equiv.), with the yields of some products reaching 90%. RESULTS: Our prior strategy was extended to use copper, cobalt, nickel, manganese, palladium or platinum salts as the third component. The one-step method used 1.0 equivalent of a metal salt, such as M(OAc)(2)·nH(2)O or MCl(2)·nH(2)O (M: Cu, Co, Ni, Pd or Pt, n = 1, 2 or 4), as a reagent to generate chiral salicyloxazoline complexes 1–8 in the reaction of 2-cyanophenol with different d- and l-amino alcohols. CONCLUSION: Complexes 1–8 were obtained using a one-pot method with a sequential strategy. The reaction outcome was demonstrated for three-component reactions between metal salts, amino alcohols and 2-hydroxybenzonitrile to afford organometallic complexes in good yields (65–95%). ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13065-019-0565-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.