The firs
t s
truc
turally charac
terized Cr(V) dioxo complex,
cis-[Cr
V(O)
2(phen)
2](BF
4) (
2, phen = 1,10-phenan
throline)has been syn
thesized by
the oxida
tion of a rela
ted Cr(III) complex,
cis-[Cr
III(phen)
2(OH
2)
2](NO
3)
3·2.5H
2O (
1,charac
terized by X-ray crys
tallography), wi
th NaOCl in aqueous solu
tions in
the presence of excess NaBF
4, andi
ts puri
ty has been confirmed by elec
trospray mass spec
trome
try (ESMS), EPR spec
troscopy, and analy
tical
techniques. Previously repor
ted me
thods for
the genera
tion of Cr(V)-phen complexes, such as
the oxida
tion of
1wi
th PbO
2 or PhIO, have been shown by ESMS
to lead
to mix
tures of Cr(III), Cr(V), Cr(VI), and in some casesCr(IV) species,
3. Species
3 was assigned as [Cr
IV(O)(OH)(phen)
2]
+, based on ESMS and X-ray absorp
tionspec
troscopy measuremen
ts. A dis
tor
ted oc
tahedral s
truc
ture for
2 (Cr
![](/images/en<font color=)
ti
ties/
tbd1.gif">O, 1.63 Å; Cr-N, 2.04 and 2.16 Å) wases
tablished by mul
tiple-sca
ttering (MS) modeling of XAFS spec
tra (solid, 10 K). The validi
ty of
the model wasverified by a good agreemen
t be
tween
the resul
ts of MS XAFS fi
tting and X-ray crys
tallography for
1 (dis
tor
tedoc
tahedron; Cr-O, 1.95 Å; Cr-N, 2.06 Å). Unlike for
the well-s
tudied Cr(V) 2-hydroxycarboxyla
to complexes,
2was equally or more s
table in aqueous media (hours a
t pH = 1-13 and 25
![](/images/en<font color=)
ti
ties/deg.gif">C) compared wi
th polar apro
ticsolven
ts. A s
table Cr(III)-Cr(VI) dimer, [Cr
III(Cr
VIO
4)(phen)
2]
+ (de
tec
ted by ESMS), is formed during
the decomposi
tionof
2 in nonaqueous media. Compara
tive s
tudies of
the oxida
tion of
1 by NaOCl or PbO
2 have shown
tha
t [Cr
V(O)
2(phen)
2]
+ was
the ac
tive species responsible for
the previously repor
ted oxida
tive DNA damage, bac
terialmu
tagenici
ty, and increased incidence of micronuclei in mammalian cells, caused by
the oxida
tion produc
ts of
1wi
th PbO
2. Efficien
t oxida
tion of
1 to a geno
toxic species, [Cr
V(O)
2(phen)
2]
+, in neu
tral aqueous media by a biologicaloxidan
t, hypochlori
te, suppor
ts
the hypo
thesis on a significan
t role of reoxida
tion of Cr(III) complexes, formedduring
the in
tracellular reduc
tion of Cr(VI), in Cr(VI)-induced carcinogenici
ty. Similar oxida
tion reac
tions may con
tribu
te
to
the repor
ted adverse effec
ts of a popular nu
tri
tional supplemen
t, Cr(III) picolina
te.