Editorial Board Members’ Collection Series in “Featuring Ligands and Their Applications in Coordination Chemistry”, 2nd Edition

A special issue of Inorganics (ISSN 2304-6740). This special issue belongs to the section "Coordination Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2025 | Viewed by 923

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry, Colorado State University, Fort Colllins, CO 80523, USA
Interests: metals in medicine; vanadium; drugs and biologically active compounds; cancer; diabetes; tuberculosis; pharmaceutically active compounds; transition metals; platinum, ruthenium, copper, rhenium, lipid and lipid model interfaces; hydrophobic compounds; spectroscopy; reverse micelles; chemistry in confined spaces
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Guest Editor
Institute of Chemistry, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Circuito Exterior S/N, University City, Coyoacán Municipality, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
Interests: chelating ligands; coordination and organometallic chemistry; catalysis; pincer compound chemistry; cytotoxic activity; antimicrobial activity
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Ligands are at the core of coordination and organometallic chemistry and define metal complexes. Ligands can be synthetic or naturally derived, providing the environment and the scaffold for the resulting steric and electronic complexes for metal centers to function as a selective catalyst or a highly efficient metallodrug. Sometimes ligands are spectators; other times, they are part of the various parts of the processes, and the whole complexes are involved, assuming a critical role in the catalytic process or being a true protagonist in a given process.

Following the success of the first edition of this Special Issue, a second volume has been launched to collect original research articles or comprehensive review papers focusing on the design and participation of ligands in the formation of and the performance of their corresponding metal complexes.

Prof. Dr. Debbie C. Crans
Prof. Dr. David Morales-Morales
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • design and synthesis of ligands
  • ligand–metal complexes
  • non-innocent ligands
  • privileged ligand platforms
  • bioactive ligands
  • metal–ligand complex catalysts
  • metal–ligand multiple bond
  • chiral ligands
  • ambidentate ligands
  • bulky ligands
  • binucleating ligands
  • peptidic ligands
  • ligand–metal complexes with protein
  • ligand–metal complexes with nucleic acids

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 2403 KiB  
Article
Accessing Bisphosphine Copper(I) Complexes with Recalcitrant Pterin–Phenanthroline Ligands Through Mechanochemistry
by Siva S. M. Bandaru, Christian Fischer, Jevy V. Correia, Anna-Lena Land and Carola Schulzke
Inorganics 2025, 13(6), 175; https://doi.org/10.3390/inorganics13060175 - 22 May 2025
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Abstract
The synthesis of [Cu(PteN˄N)(P˄P)][BF4] complexes with pterin-fused phenanthroline (PteN˄N) derivatives and bisphosphine (P˄P) co-ligands was achieved through a mechanochemical approach. Due to the extremely poor solubility of PteN˄N ligands, traditional solution [...] Read more.
The synthesis of [Cu(PteN˄N)(P˄P)][BF4] complexes with pterin-fused phenanthroline (PteN˄N) derivatives and bisphosphine (P˄P) co-ligands was achieved through a mechanochemical approach. Due to the extremely poor solubility of PteN˄N ligands, traditional solution methods are ineffective, whereas solid-state mechanochemistry reliably yielded the targeted heteroleptic—rather than homoleptic—complexes with considerable stability even in solution. The transformation from ligand to complex increased the solubility dramatically. The ligands and complexes were comprehensively characterised with a mixture of routine spectroscopic and spectrometric methods, the applicability of which depended to some extent on the compounds’ solubility, e.g., in the case of NMR spectroscopy. The photophysical properties of the complexes, which were not as exciting as anticipated, were assessed by absorption and emission spectroscopic methods, showing that further improvements are needed in complex design if these species are to be developed towards photocatalysis in the future. Full article
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12 pages, 2422 KiB  
Article
A Pt(II) Complex with a PNN Type Ligand Dppmaphen Exhibits Selective, Reversible Vapor-Chromic Photoluminescence
by Yuanyuan Hu, Jiangyue Wang, David James Young, Hong-Xi Li, Yuxin Lu and Zhi-Gang Ren
Inorganics 2025, 13(5), 170; https://doi.org/10.3390/inorganics13050170 - 16 May 2025
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Abstract
The reaction of PtCl2 with a PNN type ligand dppmaphen (N-(diphenylphosphanylmethyl)-2-amino-1,10-phenanthroline) yielded a new Pt(II) complex [Pt(dppmaphen)Cl]Cl·H2O (1). Upon excitation at 370 nm, compound 1 emits yellow phosphorescence at 539 and 576 nm at room temperature. Exposure of [...] Read more.
The reaction of PtCl2 with a PNN type ligand dppmaphen (N-(diphenylphosphanylmethyl)-2-amino-1,10-phenanthroline) yielded a new Pt(II) complex [Pt(dppmaphen)Cl]Cl·H2O (1). Upon excitation at 370 nm, compound 1 emits yellow phosphorescence at 539 and 576 nm at room temperature. Exposure of compound 1 to MeOH vapor induces a shift in its emission to 645 nm, which can be attributed to the substitution of MeOH molecules for H2O, resulting in the disruption and reorganization of weak interactions in 1. This response is selective for MeOH and, to a lesser extent, EtOH, the orange photoluminescence recovered in air. The emission change of 1 was reversible and visible to the naked eye. Full article
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10 pages, 1490 KiB  
Article
Cadmium Complexes—A Novel Family in the Coordination Chemistry of 1,2-bis(arylimino)acenaphthenes
by Egor V. Chekhov, Ivan V. Bakaev, Alisa K. Gukova, Nikolay O. Shaposhnikov, Veronika I. Komlyagina, Saltanat Appazova, Banu Diyarova, Klara Darmagambet, Nurbol Appazov, Nikolai F. Romashev and Artem L. Gushchin
Inorganics 2025, 13(5), 145; https://doi.org/10.3390/inorganics13050145 - 2 May 2025
Viewed by 293
Abstract
This work presents the synthesis routes for the first representatives of cadmium complexes based on 1,2-bis(arylimino)acenaphthene (Ar-bian). The reaction of CdCl2 with bis-(2,4,6-trimethylphenylimino)acenaphthene (tmp-bian) in a 1-to-1 molar ratio led to a dimeric complex [Cd2(tmp-bian)2Cl2(µ-Cl)2 [...] Read more.
This work presents the synthesis routes for the first representatives of cadmium complexes based on 1,2-bis(arylimino)acenaphthene (Ar-bian). The reaction of CdCl2 with bis-(2,4,6-trimethylphenylimino)acenaphthene (tmp-bian) in a 1-to-1 molar ratio led to a dimeric complex [Cd2(tmp-bian)2Cl2(µ-Cl)2] (1). Further treatment of complex 1 with silver triflate as a chloride-eliminating agent, followed by the addition of one equivalent of tmp-bian, resulted in the formation of a mixture consisting of [Cd2(tmp-bian)2(H2O)4(µ-Cl)2](OTf)2 (2) and [Cd(tmp-bian)2(OTf)2] (3). To obtain complex 3 in its individual form, a reaction of Cd(OTf)2 with two equivalents of tmp-bian was carried out. The characterization of the complexes was conducted through a range of analytical methods, including X-ray diffraction analysis, elemental analysis, as well as IR and 1H NMR-spectroscopies. Redox properties of 1 and 3 were investigated by means of cyclic voltammetry. Cyclic voltammograms revealed irreversible reduction processes centered on the tmp-bian ligand, which were confirmed by quantum chemical calculations. Full article
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