β-Cyclodextrin and cucurbit[7]uril as protective encapsulation agents of the CO-releasing molecule [CpMo(CO)₃Me]

The CO releasing ability of the complex [CpMo(CO)₃Me] (1) (Cp = η⁵-C₅H₅) has been assessed using a deoxymyoglobin-carbonmonoxymyoglobin assay. In the dark, CO release was shown to be promoted by the reducing agent sodium dithionite in a concentration-dependent manner. At lower dithionite concentrations, where dithionite-induced CO release was minimised, irradiation at 365 nm with a low-power UV lamp resulted in a strongly enhanced release of CO (half-life (<i>t</i>_1/2) = 6.3 min), thus establishing complex 1 as a photochemically activated CO-releasing molecule. To modify the CO release behaviour of the tricarbonyl complex, the possibility of obtaining inclusion complexes between 1 and β-cyclodextrin (βCD) or cucurbit[7]uril (CB7) by liquid-liquid interfacial precipitation (1@βCD(IP)), liquid antisolvent precipitation (1@CB7), and mechanochemical ball-milling (1@βCD(BM)) was evaluated. All these methods led to the isolation of a true inclusion compound (albeit mixed with nonincluded 1 for 1@βCD(BM)), as evidenced by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), FT-IR and FT-Raman spectroscopies, and ¹³C{¹H} magic angle spinning (MAS) NMR. PXRD showed that 1@βCD(IP) was microcrystalline with a channel-type crystal packing structure. High resolution mass spectrometry studies revealed the formation of aqueous phase 1 : 1 complexes between 1 and CB7. For 1@βCD(IP) and 1@CB7, the protective effects of the hosts led to a decrease in the CO release rates with respect to nonincluded 1. βCD had the strongest effect, with a <i>ca.</i> 10-fold increase in <i>t</i>_1/4 for dithionite-induced CO release, and a <i>ca.</i> 2-fold increase in <i>t</i>_1/2 for photoinduced CO release.