A DFT and structural investigation of the conformations of Fischer carbene complexes

Abstract

A set of different Fischer carbene complexes of group VI and VII metals, with varied heteroatom and heteroaromatic substituents on the carbene carbon atom, was studied. Density functional theory as well as single crystal diffraction techniques were employed to investigated the most stable conformation of these complexes. The complexes studied, [M(CO)4L{C(X)Z}], with L = PPh3 or CO, X = ethoxy (-OCH2CH3) or amino (-NH2 or NHCy) substituents as the heteroatom carbene substituents, Z = 2-furyl (-C4H3O), 2-thienyl (-C4H3S), 2-(N-methyl)pyrrolyl (-C4H3NCH3) as the second carbene substituent had their substituents varied systematically to give all the possible conformations of these complexes. The conformations of the complexes, in particular the relative orientations of the heteroatoms in the molecule (syn vs. anti), E/Z isomerism in the aminocarbene complexes and cis/trans isomerism in the ligand substituted complexes as well as various combinations of these aspects, were studied. In general, it was found that the most stable conformation theoretically as well as in the solid state for most of the complexes preferred the syn conformation. The Z-isomer is generally preferred over the E isomer while the cis is more predominant than the trans isomer. Using DFT and NBO calculations, explanations for the preferred conformations were explored. It was concluded that both steric and electronic factors influence the conformations of the carbene complexes, with the extent of contribution of these two factors varying for each of the different carbene substituents.