Neutral Penta- and Hexacoordinate N-Heterocyclic Carbene Complexes Derived from SiX4 (X = F, Br)

Bond Dissociation Energies of Carbene-Carbene and Carbene-Main Group Adducts

A range of carbene structures and their adducts with one another and with a selection of small-molecule electrophiles and nucleophiles were examined at the composite correlated molecular orbital theory G3MP2 level to explore ground-state "carbenic" structures, their stabilities, and reactivities. Differences between carbene general classification as a singlet electrophilic carbene or singlet nucleophilic carbene and their given reactivity are discussed. A key quantity is the carbon-carbon bond dissociation energy for carbene dimers or the carbene-adduct dissociation energy for other species. The carbene dimer bond dissociation energies span a wide range from 10 to 170 kcal/mol. The hydrogenation energies and singlet-triplet splitting were found to correlate best with the carbene's self-dimerization energy, whereas other descriptors do not. The proton and fluoride affinities of the carbenes alone prove inadequate for classifying reactivity among classes of carbenes. The self-dimerization bond dissociation energy, hydrogenation energy, and singlet-triplet splitting of various carbenes, despite sometimes large differences in proton affinity and other indicators of reactivity, provide usable metrics to correlate substantial amounts of thermodynamic and kinetic (reactivity) information regarding these structures.

An NHC-Stabilized H2 GeBH2 Precursor for the Preparation of Cationic Group 13/14/15 Hydride Chains

The synthesis, characterization and reactivity studies of the NHC‐stabilized complex IDipp ⋅ GeH₂BH₂OTf (1) (IDipp=1,3‐bis(2,6‐diisopropylphenyl)imidazolin‐2‐ylidene) are reported. Nucleophilic substitution of the triflate (OTf) group in 1 by phosphine or arsine donors provides access to the cationic group 13/14/15 chains [IDipp ⋅ GeH₂BH₂ERR¹R²]⁺ (2 E=P; R, R¹=H; R²=^tBu; 3 E=P; R=H; R¹, R²=Ph; 4 a E=P; R, R¹, R²=Ph; 4 b E=As; R, R¹, R²=Ph). These novel cationic chains were characterized by X‐ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Moreover, the formation of the parent complexes [IDipp ⋅ GeH₂BH₂PH₃][OTf] (5) and [IDipp ⋅ GeH₃][OTf] (6) were achieved by reaction of 1 with PH₃. Accompanying DFT computations give insight into the stability of the formed chains with respect to their decomposition.

Stretching the P-C Bond. Variations on Carbenes and Phosphanes

The stability and the structure of adducts formed between four substituted phosphanes (PX3, X:H, F, Cl, and NMe2) and 11 different carbenes have been investigated by DFT calculations. In most cases, the structure of the adducts depends strongly on the stability of the carbene itself, exhibiting a linear correlation with the increasing dissociation energy of the adduct. Carbenes of low stability form phosphorus ylides (F), which can be described as phosphane → carbene adducts supported with some back-bonding. The most stable carbenes, which have high energy lone pair, do not form stable F-type structures but carbene → phosphane adducts (E-type structure), utilizing the low-lying lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of the phosphane (with electronegative substituents), benefiting also from the carbene-pnictogen interaction. Especially noteworthy is the case of PCl3, which has an extremely low energy LUMO in its T-shaped form. Although this PCl3 structure is a transition state of rather high energy, the large stabilization energy of the complex makes this carbene-phosphane adduct stable. Most interestingly, in case of carbenes with medium stability both F- and E-type structures could be optimized, giving rise to bond-stretch isomerism. Likewise, for phosphorus ylides (F), the stability of the adducts G formed from carbenes with hypovalent phosphorus (PX-phosphinidene) is in a linear relationship with the stabilization of the carbene. Adducts of carbenes with hypervalent phosphorus (PX5) are the most stable when X is electronegative, and the carbene is highly nucleophilic.

Improving the Global Electrophilicity Index (GEI) as a Measure of Lewis Acidity

The global electrophilicity index (GEI) has been further explored as a general and base-free metric for Lewis acidity. A number of computational methods, including post-Hartree-Fock, density functional theory, and time-dependent density functional theory, have been explored. In this fashion, we sought the method most applicable to a range of different Lewis acids with differing structural and electronic features, including boron trihalides, silicon tetrahalides, fluoroaryl boranes, and group 15 pentahalides. The most accurate and computationally efficient approach was found to use the energies of the orbitals from a geometry optimization at the B3LYP/def2-TZVP level of theory. In addition, the GEI is shown to act as an effective acidity metric that is complementary to the fluoride ion affinity. The GEI also proved to be a better gauge of Lewis acidity for softer bases, as confirmed by comparison to the iodide ion affinity of the group 15 pentahalides.

NHCs in Main Group Chemistry

Since the discovery of the first stable N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) in the beginning of the 1990s, these divalent carbon species have become a common and available class of compounds, which have found numerous applications in academic and industrial research. Their important role as two-electron donor ligands, especially in transition metal chemistry and catalysis, is difficult to overestimate. In the past decade, there has been tremendous research attention given to the chemistry of low-coordinate main group element compounds. Significant progress has been achieved in stabilization and isolation of such species as Lewis acid/base adducts with highly tunable NHC ligands. This has allowed investigation of numerous novel types of compounds with unique electronic structures and opened new opportunities in the rational design of novel organic catalysts and materials. This Review gives a general overview of this research, basic synthetic approaches, key features of NHC-main group element adducts, and might be useful for the broad research community.

N-heterocyclic carbene-catalysed pentafluorophenylation of aldehydes

N-heterocyclic carbenes have been utilized as highly efficient organocatalysts to catalyse multifluorophenylation of aldehydes with fluorinated aryltrimethylsilanes to afford the corresponding adducts in 49–99% yields.

Pentacoordinate silicon(IV): cationic, anionic and neutral complexes derived from the reaction of NHC→SiCl4 with highly Lewis acidic (C2F5)2SiH2

Addition of NHC→SiCl4 to the highly Lewis acidic bis(pentafluoroethyl)silane ((C2F5)2SiH2) afforded the salt [(NHC)2SiCl2H][(C2F5)2SiCl3] with pentacoordinate silicon in the cation and the anion. The anion represents the first example of a chlorosilicate structurally characterized in the solid state. In this reaction, the long sought pentacoordinate NHC-adduct of silicochloroform was identified as an intermediate and its crystal structure is presented.

Disilicon complexes with two hexacoordinate Si atoms: paddlewheel-shaped isomers with (ClN4 )Si-Si(S4 Cl) and (ClN2 S2 )Si-Si(S2 N2 Cl) skeletons

The reaction of 1-methyl-3-trimethylsilylimidazoline-2-thione with hexachlorodisilane proceeds toward substitution of four of the disilane Cl atoms during the formation of disilicon complexes with two neighboring hexacoordinate Si atoms. The N,S-bidentate methimazolide moieties adopt a buttressing role, thus forming paddlewheel-shaped complexes of the type ClSi(μ-mt)4 SiCl (mt=methimazolyl). Most interestingly, three isomers (i.e., with (ClN4 )SiSi(S4 Cl), (ClN3 S)SiSi(S3 NCl), and (ClN2 S2 )SiSi(S2 N2 Cl) skeletons as so-called (4,0), (3,1), and cis-(2,2) paddlewheels) were detected in solution by using (29) Si NMR spectroscopic analysis. Two of these isomers could be isolated as crystalline solids, thus allowing their molecular structures to be analyzed by using X-ray diffraction studies. In accord with time-dependent NMR spectroscopy, computational analyses proved the cis-(2,2) isomer with a (ClN2 S2 )SiSi(S2 N2 Cl) skeleton to be the most stable. The compounds presented herein are the first examples of crystallographically evidenced disilicon complexes with two SiSi-bonded octahedrally coordinated Si atoms and representatives of the still scarcely explored class of Si coordination compounds with sulfur donor atoms.

Carbenes from ionic liquids

In the last decade an explosive development has been observed in the fields of both ionic liquids (ILs) as potential chemically inert solvents with many possible technical applications, and N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) as catalysts with superb performance. Since the cations of many ILs can be deprotonated by strong bases yielding NHCs, this two fields are inherently connected. It has only recently been recognized that some of the commonly used basic anions of the ILs (such as acetate) are able to deprotonate azolium cations. While the resulting NHC could clearly be observed in the vapor phase, in the liquid - where the mutual electrostatic interactions within the ion network stabilize the ion pairs - the neutral NHC cannot be detected by commonly used analytical techniques; however, from these ionic liquids NHCs can be trapped, e.g., by complex formation, or more importantly these ILs can be directly used as catalysts, since the NHC content is sufficiently large for these applications. Apart from imidazole-2-ylidenes, the formation of other highly reactive neutral species ("abnormal carbenes," 2-alkylideneimidazoles, pyridine-ylidenes or pyridinium-ylides) is feasible in highly basic ionic liquids. The cross-fertilizing overlap between the two fields may provide access to a great advance in both areas, and we give an overview here on the results published so far, and also on the remaining possibilities and challenges in the concept of "carbenes from ionic liquids."

Ylenes in the M(II)→Si(IV) (M=Si, Ge, Sn) coordination mode

The reaction of the methimazolyl (mt, i.e., 2-mercapto-1-methylimidazolide) substituted silane Si(mt)(4) with SnCl(2) and GeCl(2) in dioxane affords the paddlewheel-shaped complexes [ClSi(μ-mt)(4)MCl] (M=Sn (1) and Ge (2), respectively). These compounds represent the first crystallographically characterized hexacoordinate silicon complexes comprising a Sn or Ge atom in the Si coordination sphere. An attempt to synthesize the related silicon compound 3 [ClSi(μ-mt)(4)SiCl] instead afforded the trisilane [ClSi(μ-mt)(4)Si-SiCl(3)] (3a), which provides the first crystallographic evidence for the feasibility of oligosilanes with adjacent hexacoordinate Si atoms. One of the hexacoordinate Si atoms of 3a features the unprecedented (Si(2)S(4))Si skeleton. Natural bonding orbital (NBO) analyses of compounds 1, 2, 3a (and the target compound 3) revealed characteristics of M(II)→Si(IV) (for 2 and 3) or M(I)→Si(IV) (for 3a) dative bonding in the systems with M=Si and Ge, whereas compound 1 exhibits a covalent Sn(III)-Si(III) bond.

Selective aromatic C-F and C-H bond activation with silylenes of different coordinate silicon

Herein we report on the reaction of stable two-coordinate silylene, L(1)Si [L(1) = CH{(C=CH(2))(CMe)(2,6-iPr(2)C(6)H(3)N)(2)}] (1) and three-coordinate silylene (Lewis base stabilized silylene), L(2)SiCl [L(2) = PhC(NtBu)(2)] (2) with aromatic compounds containing C-F and C-H bonds. The reaction of 1 and 2 with hexafluorobenzene (C(6)F(6)) affords the silicon(IV) fluorides, L(1)SiF(C(6)F(5)) (3) and L(2)SiFCl(C(6)F(5)) (4), respectively. The reaction proceeds through the unprecedented oxidative addition of one of the C-F bonds to the silicon(II) center without any additional catalyst. When 1 and 2 are treated with octafluorotoluene (C(6)F(5)CF(3)), pentafluoropyridine (C(5)F(5)N) regioselective C-F bond activation occurs leading to the formation of L(1)SiF(4-C(6)F(4)CF(3)) (5), L(1)SiF(4-C(5)F(4)N) (6), L(2)SiFCl(4-C(6)F(4)CF(3)) (7), and L(2)SiFCl(4-C(5)F(4)N) (8), respectively. More interestingly, compounds 1 and 2 react with pentafluorobenzene (C(6)F(5)H) under formation of silicon(IV) hydride L(1)SiH(C(6)F(5)) (9) by chemoselective C-H bond activation, in the latter case producing silicon(IV) fluoride L(2)SiFCl(4-C(6)F(4)H) (10) by chemo- as well as regioselective C-F bond activation. Furthermore, the reaction of 1 with 1,3,5-trifluorobenzene (1,3,5-C(6)F(3)H(3)) leads to the chemoselective formation of silicon(IV) hydride L(1)SiH(1,3,5-C(6)F(3)H(2)) (11). The formation of compounds 9 and 11 occurs via oxidative addition of the aromatic C-H bond to the silicon(II) center instead of C-F bond activation. All reported reactions proceed without any additional catalyst. Compounds 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 were investigated by microanalysis and multinuclear NMR spectroscopy and compounds 3, 7, 8, and 9 additionally by single crystal X-ray structural analyses.