Stereoselective insertion of GeCl2 into tungsten–chlorine bonds of aminomethylene and aminocarbyne complexes

Synthesis and structural studies of germyl and germyl/stannyl substituted tungstenocenes

One-pot reactions of [WCp2(H)2] and [WCp2(H)(SnMe3)] with "BuLi followed by an equivalent of GeMe2Cl2 afford mono(germyl) substituted tungstenocenes [WCp2(H)(GeMe2Cl)] (1) and [WCp2(SnMe3)(GeMe2Cl)] (7). Reactions of the products with tin halides in the presence NEt3 afford the mixed complexes [WCp2(SnR2X)(GeMe2Y)] (X, Y = Cl, Br, R = Me, Et), which were further converted to moderately stable compounds [WCp2(SnR2H)(GeMe2H)] (R = Me (10), Et (11)). A number of asymmetric mono(halo)-substituted germyl/stannyl tungstenocenes [WCp2(SnMe2X)(GeMe2H)] (X = Cl (12), Br (13)) and [WCp2(SnEt2Y)(GeMe2H)] (Y = Br (14), I (15)) were prepared by selective halogenation of the Sn-H bond in 10 and 11. X-Ray studies of [WCp2(H)(GeMe2Cl)] (1), [WCp2(SnEt2Br)(GeMe2Cl)] (4), and [WCp2(SnEt2Br)(GeMe2H)] (14) established classical structures of these compounds. X-Ray study of complex [WCp2(SnMeCl)(GeMe2Cl)] (3) revealed the presence of interligand Ge-Cl...Sn-Cl interactions in a highly Ge/Sn disordered structure. Analyses of molecular parameters of 1, 4, and 14 suggest the presence of a negative hyperconjugation between metal lone pairs and the sigma*-orbital of the E-X bond, which is stronger in bromo substituted complexes in comparison with chloro substituted ones.

Metal germylyne complexes [Mtbd1;Ge-R] and metallogermylenes [M-Ge-R]: DFT analysis of the systems [(Cp)(CO)(n)()Mtbd1;GeMe] (M = Cr, Mo, W, Fe(2+), n = 2; M = Fe, n = 1) and [(Cp)(CO)(n)()M-GeMe] (M = Cr, Mo, W, n = 3; M = Fe, n = 2)

Quantum chemical calculations at the gradient corrected DFT level using the exchange correlation functionals BP86 and B3LYP of the geometries of the title compounds are reported. The theoretically predicted bond lengths and angles of the model compounds are in excellent agreement with experiment. The nature of the metal-ligand interactions is quantitatively analyzed with an energy decomposition method. The analysis of the electronic structure of the neutral metal germylyne complexes Ia-Id and the metallogermylenes IIa-IId shows that the former compounds have about the same degree of electrostatic and covalent bonding, while the relative strength of the covalent contributions in the latter molecules is lower (41-42%) than the electrostatic attraction (58-59%). The a' '(pi) bonding contribution in the group-6 germylyne complexes Ia-Ic is rather high (42% of the orbital interactions). In the iron complex Id, it is even higher (53.8%) than the sigma bonding. The pi bonding contributions to the covalent bonding become much less (18-20%) in the metallogermylenes IIa-IId.