Design and Synthesis of a Novel Triptycene-Based Ligand for Modeling Carboxylate-Bridged Diiron Enzyme Active Sites

A novel triptycene-based ligand with a preorganized framework was designed to model carboxylate-bridged diiron active sites in bacterial multicomponent monooxygenase (BMM) hydroxylase enzymes. The synthesis of the bis(benzoxazole)-appended ligand L1 depicted was accomplished in 11 steps. Reaction of L1 with iron(II) triflate and a carboxylate source afforded the desired diiron(II) complex [Fe2L1(μ-OH)(μ-O2CArTol)(OTf)2].