Potential propelling and rotating functions of propeller-type complexes. III. Detection of the propelling motion in fac-tris(S-2,3-diaminopropionato)cobalt(III) in an aqueous solution upon IR irradiation

Abstract

Circular dichroism spectra of the fac and mer isomers of tris-cobalt(III) complexes of S-2,3-Hdap (Hdap = diaminopropionic acid); fac and mer-[Co(S-dap)₃] (Λ or Δ), and [Co(en)₃]³⁺ (Λ or Δ, en = ethylenediamine) in an aqueous solution without and upon IR irradiation were measured. The detection of the propelling motion that corresponds to circular dichroism spectral changes of the propeller-type complex, fac-[Co(S-dap)₃] in an aqueous solution upon IR irradiation gave good agreement with the computer-simulation result, that is, the propelling (translation and rotation) motion occurs in propeller-type metal complexes in aqueous solution as a consequence of an appropriate energy supply, which had been obtained by theoretical study based on molecular dynamics (MD) simulations by the use of AMBER 6 program.

Keywords:

• Propeller-type complexes
• Propelling function
• Detection of propelling motion