Fluorine-based Zn salan complexes

We synthesised and characterised the racemic and chiral versions of two Zn salan fluorine-based complexes from commercially available materials. The complexes are susceptible to absorbing H2O from the atmosphere. In solution (DMSO-H2O) and at the millimolar level, experimental and theoretical studies identify that these complexes exist in a dimeric-monomeric equilibrium. We also investigated their ability to sense amines via 19F NMR. In CDCl3 or d6-DMSO, strongly coordinating molecules (H2O or DMSO) are the limiting factor in using these easy-to-make complexes as chemosensory platforms since their exchange with analytes requires a high excess of the latter.