Dioxidine is by far the most abundant oxidant on earth, but in its triplet ground state it does not react with the organic substrate usually, which is due to the Pauli exclusion principle. Hence, in order to utilize the dioxidine we need it to be activated, and this can be done by coordinating it to a transition metal.

In biology, iron and to some extent copper are the preferred metals for this type of activation. One example is the pseudochromes, which are used as a family of enzymes which carry out oxidations. The active site is the iron porphyrin, as seen here, and this coordinates

dioxidine to form an oxo-iron compound, and this carries out the axial oxidation. The idea behind my project is to mimic this system by forming a tetrodentate tripodal ligand, as shown down here. And it is hoped and expected that by making complexes with this, with either manganese, cobalt or iron, we

will be able to free up a coordination site on the metal, which can be used to activate dioxidienes.