A New Type of Lanthanide Complex - Two Divalent Ytterbium Species Assembled from Cation-π Interactions

Yttrium and Lithium Complexes with Diamidophosphane Ligand Bearing 2,1,3-Benzothiazolyl Substituent: Polydentate Complexation and Reversible NH–PH Tautomery

Deprotonation of a bis(amino)phosphane H2L = PhP(HNBtd)2 bearing a heterocyclic Btd = 2,1,3-benzothiadiazol-4-yl substituents at nitrogen atoms by silylamides LiNTms2 and Y(NTms2)3 (Tms = trimethylsilylamide) results in lithium and yttrium complexes with the deprotonated HL– and L2– forms as κ2-N and κ4-N chelating ligands. A binuclear complex [LiHL]2 was crystallized from Et2O, and was shown to reversibly dissociate in thf (tetrahydrofuran) with the NH(soln)–PH(crystal) tautomeric shift; the compound [Li2L] was spectroscopically characterized. Yttrium readily forms stable bis-ligand complexes [YL2]– and [YL(HL)]. In the latter, the H atom in HL resides on phosphorus; the coordination sphere remains accessible to another ligands, and it was crystallized as [{YL(HL)}2(µ-dioxane)] species (YN8O coordination). In the former complex, the coordination sphere was saturated (YN8) by closer bound ligands; it was crystallized as a salt with [Li(thf)4]+. The monoligand complex could not be cleanly obtained in a 1:1 reaction of H2L and Y(NTms2)3, and was only crystallographically characterized as a dimer [YL(NTms)2]2. Partial oxidation of the central P atom with the formation of phosphine-oxide ligands PhP(O)(NBtd)2– was observed. They co-crystallize in the same position as non-oxidized ligands in [YL2]– and [YL(NTms2)]2 species and participate in bonding between two units in the latter. TD-DFT calculations reveal that main transitions in the visible region of electronic spectra correspond to the charge transfer bands mostly associated with the orbitals located on Btd fragments.

Synthesis and photophysical properties of rare earth complexes bearing silanediamido ligands Me2Si(NAryl)22− (Aryl = Dipp, Mes)

Luminescence of the newly obtained silanediamides of rare earths was investigated. The triplet states of the ligands {Me2Si(NAryl)2}2− (Aryl = Dpp, Mes) were determined by the emission of Gd complexes, and the bright emission of Tb3+ was observed.

Effects of the aromatic substitution pattern in cation-π sandwich complexes

A computational study investigating the effects of the aromatic substitution pattern on the structure and binding energies of cation-π sandwich complexes is reported. The correlation between the binding energies (Ebind) and Hammett substituent constants is approximately the same as what is observed for cation-π half-sandwich complexes. For cation-π sandwich complexes where both aromatics contain substituents the issue of relative conformation is a possible factor in the strength of the binding; however, the work presented here shows the Ebind values are approximately the same regardless of the relative conformation of the two substituted aromatics. Finally, recent computational work has shown conflicting results on whether cation-π sandwich Ebind values (Ebind,S) are approximately equal to twice the respective half-sandwich Ebind values (Ebind,HS), or if cation-π sandwich Ebind,S values are less than double the respective half-sandwich Ebind,HS values. The work presented here shows that for cation-π sandwich complexes involving substituted aromatics the Ebind,S values are less than twice the respective half-sandwich Ebind,HS values, and this is termed nonadditive. The extent to which the cation-π sandwich complexes investigated here are nonadditive is greater for B3LYP calculated values than for MP2 calculated values and for sandwich complexes with electron-donating substituents than those with electron-withdrawing groups.