Probing the reactivity and radical nature of oxidized transition metal-thiolate complexes by mass spectrometry

Theoretical Understanding of Reactions of Rhenium and Ruthenium Tris(thiolate) Complexes with Unsaturated Hydrocarbons: Noninnocent Nature of the Ligand, Mechanism, and Origin of Differential Reactivity

In retrospect to the complexity induced by the noninnocent ligands in identifying the transition metal's oxidation state and correlating the ligand's noninnocence with reactivity, the reactions of alkene/alkyne addition to rhenium/ruthenium tris(thiolate) complexes are particularly good cases for shedding light on the chemistry of the dppbt ligand, including its noninnocent nature, ligand-centered mechanism, and origin of differential reactivity. Density functional theory (DFT) combined with the high-level ab initio calculations performed herein demonstrates that, upon alkene/alkyne addition, the orbital symmetry properly regulates the reaction to form ligand-centered cis-interligand dithioethers as the most favorable pathway. The neutral and cationic Re and Ru dithioethers are revealed via DFT calculations to be in a low-spin ground state; on the contrary, high-level ab initio methods confirm that the dicationic Re-dithioethers exhibit obvious multireference character with antiferromagnetic coupling between Re-d_yz and S1-p_y. The metal-stabilized thiyl radicals play a pivotal role in delivering the reactivity of [RuL₃]⁺ and [ReL₃]^+/2+ toward alkene/alkyne rather than [ReL₃], where [RuL₃]⁺ and [ReL₃]^+/2+ present significant radical characters on ligand S2, yet neutral [ReL₃] has little such feature, from which differential reactivity arises. Faster styrene addition to Ru tris(thiolate) in contrast to Re tris(thiolate) has been properly interpreted using DFT calculations with major products assigned. The deeper understanding gained in this work would illuminate further experimental exploration in adding alkene/alkyne to other metal-stabilized thiyl radicals.

Proposed Ligand-Centered Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution and Hydrogen Oxidation at a Noninnocent Mononuclear Metal-Thiolate

The noninnocent coordinatively saturated mononuclear metal-thiolate complex ReL3 (L = diphenylphosphinobenzenethiolate) serves as an electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution or hydrogen oxidation dependent on the presence of acid or base and the applied potential. ReL3 reduces acids to H2 in dichloromethane with an overpotential of 380 mV and a turnover frequency of 32 ± 3 s(-1). The rate law displays a second-order dependence on acid concentration and a first-order dependence on catalyst concentration with an overall third-order rate constant (k) of 184 ± 2 M(-2) s(-1). Reactions with deuterated acid display a kinetic isotope effect of 9 ± 1. In the presence of base, ReL3 oxidizes H2 with a turnover frequency of 4 ± 1 s(-1). The X-ray crystal structure of the monoprotonated species [Re(LH)L2](+), an intermediate in both catalytic H2 evolution and oxidation, has been determined. A ligand-centered mechanism, which does not require metal hydride intermediates, is suggested based on similarities to the redox-regulated, ligand-centered binding of ethylene to ReL3.