Selective Formation of Intramolecular Hydrogen-Bonding Palladium(II) Complexes with Nucleosides Using Unsymmetrical Tridentate Ligands

Three palladium(II) complexes with amino-amidato-phenolato-type tridentate ligands were synthesized and characterized by (1)H NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. The strategic arrangement of a hydrogen-bond donor and acceptor adjacent to the substitution site of the Pd(II) complex allowed the selective coordination of nucleosides. Among two pyrimidine-nucleosides, cytidine and 5-methyluridine, cytidine was successfully coordinated to the Pd(II) complex while 5-methyluridne was not. On the other hand, both purine-nucleosides, adenosine and guanosine, were coordinated to the Pd(II) complex. As purines have several coordination sites, adenosine afforded three kinds of coordination isomers expected from the three different donors. However, guanosine afforded a sole product according to the ligand design such that the formation of double intramolecular hydrogen-bond strongly induced the specific coordination by N1-position of guanine moiety. Furthermore, the preference of the nucleosides was evaluated by scrambling reactions. It was found that the preference of guanosine is nearly twice as high as adenosine and cytidine, owing to the three-point interaction of a coordination bond and two hydrogen bonds. These results show that the combination of a coordination and hydrogen bonds, which is reminiscent of the Watson–Crick base pairing, is an effective tool for the precise recognition of nucleosides.