NMR Chemical-Shift Anomaly and Bonding in Piano-Stool Carbonyl and Related Complexes–an Ab Initio ECP/DFT Study

Electronic Structure-Reactivity Relationship on Ruthenium Step-Edge Sites from Carbonyl 13C Chemical Shift Analysis

Ru nanoparticles are highly active catalysts for the Fischer-Tropsch and the Haber-Bosch processes. They show various types of surface sites upon CO adsorption according to NMR spectroscopy. Compared to terminal and bridging η¹ adsorption modes on terraces or edges, little is known about side-on η² CO species coordinated to B₅ or B₆ step-edges, the proposed active sites for CO and N₂ cleavage. By using solid-state NMR and DFT calculations, we analyze ¹³C chemical shift tensors (CSTs) of carbonyl ligands on the molecular cluster model for Ru nanoparticles, Ru₆(η²-μ₄-CO)₂(CO)₁₃(η⁶-C₆Me₆), and show that, contrary to η¹ carbonyls, the CST principal components parallel to the C-O bond are extremely deshielded in the η² species due to the population of the C-O π* antibonding orbital, which weakens the bond prior to dissociation. The carbonyl CST is thus an indicator of the reactivity of both Ru clusters and Ru nanoparticles step-edge sites toward C-O bond cleavage.

The Relativistic Effects on the Carbon-Carbon Coupling Constants Mediated by a Heavy Atom

The (2)JCC, (3)JCC, and (4)JCC spin-spin coupling constants in the systems with a heavy atom (Cd, In, Sn, Sb, Te, Hg, Tl, Pb, Bi, and Po) in the coupling path have been calculated by means of density functional theory. The main goal was to estimate the relativistic effects on spin-spin coupling constants and to explore the factors which may influence them, including the nature of the heavy atom and carbon hybridization. The methods applied range, in order of reduced complexity, from the Dirac-Kohn-Sham (DKS) method (density functional theory with four-component Dirac-Coulomb Hamiltonian), through DFT with two- and one-component zeroth-order regular approximation (ZORA) Hamiltonians, to scalar effective core potentials (ECPs) with the nonrelativistic Hamiltonian. The use of DKS and ZORA methods leads to very similar results, and small-core ECPs of the MDF and MWB variety reproduce correctly the scalar relativistic effects. Scalar relativistic effects usually are larger than the spin-orbit coupling effects. The latter tend to influence the most the coupling constants of the sp(3)-hybridized carbon atoms and in compounds of the p-block heavy atoms. Large spin-orbit coupling contributions for the Po compounds are probably connected with the inverse of the lowest triplet excitation energy.

Electrocatalytic Reduction of Carbon Dioxide by Mn(CN)(2,2'-bipyridine)(CO)3: CN Coordination Alters Mechanism

MnBr(2,2'-bipyridine)(CO)3 is an efficient and selective electrocatalyst for the conversion of CO2 to CO. Herein, substitution of the axial bromide for a pseudohalogen (CN) is investigated, yielding Mn(CN)(2,2'-bipyridine)(CO)3. This replacement shifts the first and second reductions to more negative potentials (-1.94 and -2.51 V vs Fc/Fc(+), respectively), but imparts quasi-reversibility at the first feature. The two-electron, two-proton reduction of CO2 to CO and H2O is observed at the potential of the first reduction. Data from IR spectroelectrochemistry, cyclic voltammetry, and controlled potential electrolysis indicate that this behavior arises from the disproportionation of two one-electron-reduced species to generate the catalytically active species. Computations using density functional theory are also presented in support of this new mechanism.

Syntheses and Properties of Homoleptic Carbonyl and Trifluorophosphane Niobates: [Nb(CO)(6)](-), [Nb(PF(3))(6)](-) and [Nb(CO)(5)](3)(-) (,)(1)

Reductive carbonylations of NbCl(4)(THF)(2), THF = tetrahydrofuran, mediated by sodium naphthalene in 1,2-dimethoxyethane, DME, or sodium anthracene in THF, provide [Nb(CO)(6)](-) as the tetraethylammonium salt in 60% or 70% isolated yields, respectively, the highest known for atmospheric pressure syntheses of this metal carbonyl. Corresponding reductions involving PF(3) give about 40% yields of [Et(4)N][Nb(PF(3))(6)], which in the past was only accessible by a photochemical route. Electrochemical data for [Nb(CO)(6)](-) and [Nb(PF(3))(6)](-) are compared and show that the PF(3) complex is almost 1 V more difficult to oxidize than the CO analogue. Protonation of [Nb(PF(3))(6)](-) by concentrated sulfuric acid yields a volatile, thermally unstable species, which has been shown by (1)H NMR and mass spectral studies to be the new niobium hydride, Nb(PF(3))(6)H. Previously unpublished (93)Nb and (13)C NMR studies corroborate prior claims that the sodium metal reduction of [Nb(CO)(6)](-) in liquid ammonia affords [Nb(CO)(5)](3)(-), the only known Nb(III-) species. The first details of this synthesis and those of [Nb(CO)(5)H](2)(-), [Nb(CO)(5)SnPh(3)](2)(-), [Nb(CO)(5)NH(3)](-), and [Nb(CO)(5)(CNtBu)](-) are presented.