Amemiya E, Loo A, Shlian DG, Parkin G. Rhenium
versus cadmium: an alternative structure for a thermally stable cadmium carbonyl compound.
Chem Sci 2020;
11:11763-11776. [PMID:
34123203 PMCID:
PMC8162458 DOI:
10.1039/d0sc04596a]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2020] [Accepted: 09/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
An alternative description is provided for the previously reported novel tetranuclear cadmium carbonyl compound, [Cd(CO)3(C6H3Cl)]4. Specifically, consideration of single crystal X-ray diffraction data indicates that the compound is better formulated as the rhenium compound, [Re(CO)3(C4N2H3S)]4. Furthermore, density functional theory calculations predict that, if it were to exist, [Cd(CO)3(C6H3Cl)]4 would have a very different structure to that reported. While it is well known that X-ray diffraction may not reliably distinguish between atoms of similar atomic number (e.g. N/C and Cl/S), it is not generally recognized that two atoms with very different atomic numbers could be misassigned. The misidentification of two elements as diverse as Re and Cd (ΔZ = 27) is unexpected and serves as an important caveat for structure determinations.
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