Oxovanadium(IV) complexes as molecular catalysts in epoxidation: Simple access to pyridylalkoxide derivatives

Reaction of bis(aryl)-2-pyridylmethanol ligands (1a–7a) with VO(SO4) · 5H2O results in the formation of metal-oxo complexes [VO(N-O)2] (1–7), with N-O = bis(aryl)-2-pyridylmethanol. A molecular structure of (4) has been determined by single crystals X-ray diffraction study, which showed the expected square planar pyramidal geometry with the pyridine ring nitrogens in trans-position to each other. The metal-oxo complexes (1–4,6,7) demonstrated the ability to catalyse epoxidation reactions of alkenes with molecular oxygen.