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 [Fe(2)L1(μ-OH)(μ-O(2)CAr(Tol))(OTf)(2)].