Synthesis and Reactivity of Coordinatively Unsaturated Dinuclear Ruthenium Bridging Imido Complexes

C≡N and N≡O Bond Cleavages of Acetonitrile and Nitrosyl Ligands at a Dimolybdenum Center to Render Ethylidyne and Acetamidinate Ligands

Extended reduction of [Mo2Cp2(μ-Cl)(μ-PtBu2)(NO)2] (1) with Na(Hg) in acetonitrile (MeCN) at room temperature resulted in an unprecedented full cleavage of the C≡N bond of a coordinated MeCN molecule to yield the vinylidene derivative Na[Mo2Cp2(μ-PtBu2)(μ-CCH2)(NO)2], which upon protonation with (NH4)PF6 gave the ethylidyne complex [Mo2Cp2(μ-PtBu2)(μ-CMe)(NO)2] [Mo1-Mo2 = 2.9218(2) Å] in a selective and reversible way. Controlled reduction of 1 at 273 K yielded instead, after protonation, the 30-electron acetamidinate complex [Mo2Cp2(μ-PtBu2)(μ-κN:κN'-HNCMeNH)(μ-NO)]PF6 [Mo1-Mo2 = 2.603(2) Å], in a process thought to stem from the paramagnetic MeCN-bridged intermediate [Mo2Cp2(μ-PtBu2)(μ-NCMe)(NO)2], followed by a complex sequence of elementary steps including cleavage of the N≡O bond of a nitrosyl ligand.

Transition Metal Carbide Complexes

Carbide complexes remain a rare class of molecules. Their paucity does not reflect exceptional instability but is rather due to the generally narrow scope of synthetic procedures for constructing carbide complexes. The preparation of carbide complexes typically revolves around generating L_nM-CE_x fragments, followed by cleavage of the C-E bonds of the coordinated carbon-based ligands (the alternative being direct C atom transfer). Prime examples involve deoxygenation of carbonyl ligands and deprotonation of methyl ligands, but several other p-block fragments can be cleaved off to afford carbide ligands. This Review outlines synthetic strategies toward terminal carbide complexes, bridging carbide complexes, as well as carbide-carbonyl cluster complexes. It then surveys the reactivity of carbide complexes, covering stoichiometric reactions where the carbide ligands act as C₁ reagents, engage in cross-coupling reactions, and enact Fischer-Tropsch-like chemistry; in addition, we discuss carbide complexes in the context of catalysis. Finally, we examine spectroscopic features of carbide complexes, which helps to establish the presence of the carbide functionality and address its electronic structure.

C-C bond formation in diiron complexes

The growing effort to design new sustainable synthetic methodologies, based on readily available and environmentally friendly transition metals, has boosted research on iron complexes. This review article focuses on C-C-bond-forming reactions occurring at bridging ligands in diiron complexes, aimed at evidencing distinctive aspects and advantages associated with the presence of two adjacent iron centres. A number of diiron-mediated C-C-bond-forming reactions reported in the literature, including nucleophilic and electrophilic additions and insertion and cycloaddition reactions, have been accumulated over the years, which, together with more recent developments, indicate that diiron complexes might provide promising alternatives to precious metals in the challenging field of metal-promoted C-C bond formation.