Reactions of Nickel(0)-Olefin Pincer Complexes with Terminal Alkynes: Cooperative C-H Bond Activation and Alkyne Coupling

Metal-ligand cooperation can facilitate the activation of chemical bonds, opening reaction pathways of interest for catalyst development. In this context, olefins occupying the central position of a diphosphine pincer ligand (PC=CP) are emerging as reversible H atom acceptors, e.g., for H2 activation. Here, we report on the reactivity of nickel complexes of PC=CP ligands with a terminal alkyne, for which two competing pathways are observed. First, cooperative and reversible C-H bond activation generates a Ni(II) alkyl/alkynyl complex as the kinetic product. Second, in the absence of a bulky substituent on the olefin, two alkyne molecules are incorporated in the ligand structure to form a conjugated triene bound to Ni(0). The mechanisms of these processes are studied by density functional theory calculations supported by experimental observations.

Access to and Reactivity of Fe0 , Fe-I , FeI , and FeII PCcarbene P Pincer Complexes

Despite their promising metal-ligand cooperative reactivity, PC_carbene P pincer ligands are rarely reported for first-row transition-metal centres. Using a dehydration methodology, we report access to an Fe⁰ PC_carbene P pincer complex (1) that proceeds via an isolated α-hydroxylalkyl hydrido complex (3). Reversible carbonyl migration to the carbene position in 1 is found to allow coordination chemistry and E-H bond addition (E=H, B, Cl) across the iron-carbene linkage, representing a unique mechanism for metal-ligand cooperativity. The PC_carbene P pincer ligand is also found to stabilize formal Fe^II , Fe^I , and Fe^-I oxidation states, as demonstrated with synthesis and characterization of the complexes [11-X][BAr^F ₂₀ ] (X=Br, I), 12, and K[13]. Compound K[13] is found to be highly reactive, and abstracts hydrogen from a range of aliphatic C-H sources. Computational analysis by DFT suggests that the formal Fe^I and Fe^-I complexes contain significant carbene radical character. The ability of the PC_carbene P ligand scaffold to partake in metal-ligand cooperativity and to support a range of iron oxidation states renders it as potentially useful in many catalytic applications.

Effect of the distant substituent on the slow magnetic relaxation of the mononuclear Co(ii) complex with pincer-type ligands

A hexacoordinated complex [Co(pydm)2](mdnbz)2 from the family of pincer complexes was prepared and structurally characterized. The complex behaves as an S = 3/2 spin system with a considerable zero-field splitting parameter D/hc ∼ +50 cm-1. The AC susceptibility measurements show a slow magnetic relaxation with three relaxation channels: at the low-frequency (LF), intermediate-frequency (IF) and high-frequency (HF) domains. At T = 2.0 K and an external field BDC = 0.25 T, the relaxation times of the individual modes are τ(LF) = 282 ms, τ(IF) = 3.1 ms, and τ(HF) = 0.16 ms, and the mole fractions of the slowly relaxing species are x(LF) = 0.19, x(IF) = 0.45, and x(HF) = 0.37. A comparison with the analogous complex [Co(pydm)2](dnbz)2 possessing a demethylated counter anion and identical metal cation shows that even small modifications in the composition of SIMs are no longer underestimated for the slow magnetic relaxation.