1,10-Phenanthroline (phen) is a heterocyclic

organic compound In chemistry, organic compounds are generally any chemical compounds that contain carbon-hydrogen or carbon-carbon bonds. Due to carbon's ability to catenate (form chains with other carbon atoms), millions of organic compounds are known. The ...

. It is a white solid that is soluble in organic solvents. The 1,10 refer to the location of the nitrogen atoms that replace CH's in the hydrocarbon called

phenanthrene Phenanthrene is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) with formula C14H10, consisting of three fused benzene rings. It is a colorless, crystal-like solid, but can also appear yellow. Phenanthrene is used to make dyes, plastics and pesticides, e ...

. Abbreviated "phen", it is used as a

ligand In coordination chemistry, a ligand is an ion or molecule (functional group) that binds to a central metal atom to form a coordination complex. The bonding with the metal generally involves formal donation of one or more of the ligand's electr ...

coordination chemistry A coordination complex consists of a central atom or ion, which is usually metallic and is called the ''coordination centre'', and a surrounding array of bound molecules or ions, that are in turn known as ''ligands'' or complexing agents. Many ...

, forming strong complexes with most metal ions.Luman, C.R. and Castellano, F.N. (2003) "Phenanthroline Ligands" in Comprehensive Coordination Chemistry II. Elsevier. . It is often sold as the monohydrate.

Synthesis

Phenanthroline may be prepared by two successive

Skraup reaction The Skraup synthesis is a chemical reaction used to synthesize quinolines. It is named after the Czech chemist Zdenko Hans Skraup (1850-1910). In the archetypal Skraup reaction, aniline is heated with sulfuric acid, glycerol, and an oxidizing agent ...

s of

glycerol Glycerol (), also called glycerine in British English and glycerin in American English, is a simple triol compound. It is a colorless, odorless, viscous liquid that is sweet-tasting and non-toxic. The glycerol backbone is found in lipids known ...

with ''o''-phenylenediamine, catalyzed by

sulfuric acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid ( Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen and hydrogen, with the molecular formu ...

, and an oxidizing agent, traditionally aqueous

arsenic acid Arsenic acid or trihydrogen arsenate is the chemical compound with the formula . More descriptively written as , this colorless acid is the arsenic analogue of phosphoric acid. Arsenate and phosphate salts behave very similarly. Arsenic acid as ...

nitrobenzene Nitrobenzene is an organic compound with the chemical formula C6H5 NO2. It is a water-insoluble pale yellow oil with an almond-like odor. It freezes to give greenish-yellow crystals. It is produced on a large scale from benzene as a precursor t ...

. Dehydration of

gives

acrolein Acrolein (systematic name: propenal) is the simplest unsaturated aldehyde. It is a colorless liquid with a piercing, acrid smell. The smell of burnt fat (as when cooking oil is heated to its smoke point) is caused by glycerol in the burning fa ...

which condenses with the

amine In chemistry, amines (, ) are compounds and functional groups that contain a basic nitrogen atom with a lone pair. Amines are formally derivatives of ammonia (), wherein one or more hydrogen atoms have been replaced by a substituen ...

followed by a cyclization.

Coordination chemistry

In terms of its coordination properties, phenanthroline is similar to

2,2'-bipyridine The comma is a punctuation mark that appears in several variants in different languages. It has the same shape as an apostrophe or single closing quotation mark () in many typefaces, but it differs from them in being placed on the baseline o ...

(bipy) with the advantage that the two nitrogen donors are preorganized for chelation. Phenanthroline is a stronger base than bipy. According to one ligand ranking scale, phen is a weaker donor than bipy. Several homoleptic complexes are known of the type (phen)₃sup>2+. Particularly well studied is e(phen)₃sup>2+, called "

ferroin Ferroin is the chemical compound with the formula e(''o''-phen)3O4, where ''o''-phen is an abbreviation for 1,10-phenanthroline, a bidentate ligand. The term "ferroin" is used loosely and includes salts of other anions such as chloride. Redox ...

." It can be used for the photometric determination of Fe(II). It is used as a redox indicator with

standard potential In electrochemistry, standard electrode potential E^\ominus, or E^\ominus_, is a measure of the reducing power of any element or compound. The IUPAC "Gold Book" defines it as: ''"the value of the standard emf (electromotive force) of a cell in wh ...

+1.06 V. The reduced ferrous form has a deep red colour and the oxidised form is light-blue. The pink complex i(phen)₃sup>2+ has been resolved into its Δ and Λ isomers. The complex u(phen)₃sup>2+ is bioactive. Copper(I) forms u(phen)₂sup>+, which is luminescent.

Bioinorganic chemistry

1,10-Phenanthroline is an

inhibitor Inhibitor or inhibition may refer to: In biology * Enzyme inhibitor, a substance that binds to an enzyme and decreases the enzyme's activity * Reuptake inhibitor, a substance that increases neurotransmission by blocking the reuptake of a neurotra ...

metallopeptidase A metalloproteinase, or metalloprotease, is any protease enzyme whose catalytic mechanism involves a metal. An example is ADAM12 which plays a significant role in the fusion of muscle cells during embryo development, in a process known as myogen ...

s, with one of the first observed instances reported in carboxypeptidase A. Inhibition of the enzyme occurs by removal and chelation of the metal ion required for catalytic activity, leaving an inactive apoenzyme. 1,10-Phenanthroline targets mainly zinc metallopeptidases, with a much lower affinity for calcium.

Related phen ligands

A variety of substituted derivatives of phen have been examined as ligands. Substituents at the 2,9 positions confer protection for the attached metal, inhibiting the binding of multiple equivalents of the phenanthroline. Such bulky ligands also favor trigonal or tetrahedral coordination at the metal. Phen itself form complexes of the type (phen)₃l₂ when treated with metal dihalides (M = Fe, Co, Ni). By contrast,

neocuproine Neocuproine is a heterocyclic organic compound and chelating agent. Phenanthroline ligands were first published in the late 19th century, and the derivatives substituted at the 2 and 9 positions are among the most studied of the modified phenanthr ...

and

bathocuproine Bathocuproine is a derivative of 1,10-phenanthroline with two methyl groups and two phenyl groups in the 2,9 and 4,7 positions, respectively. Like 1,10-phenanthroline, bathocuproine is a bidentate chelating ligand In coordination chemistry ...

form 1:1 complexes such as i(neocuproine)Cl₂sub>2.

As an indicator for alkyllithium reagents

Alkyllithium reagents form deeply colored derivatives with phenanthroline. The alkyllithium content of solutions can be determined by treatment of such reagents with small amounts of phenanthroline (ca. 1 mg) followed by titration with alcohols to a colourless endpoint. Grignard reagents may be similarly titrated.

References