A Terminal Hydride of Hafnium Supported by a Triamidoamine Ligand

Abstract

A mononuclear hafnium hydride supported by an aryl-substituted triamidoamine ligand [HfH(thf)(Xy-N3N)] (Xy-N3N = {(3,5-Me2C6H3)NCH2CH2}3N3–) was synthesized by either hydrogenolysis of the hydrocarbyl complex [Hf(R)(thf)(Xy-N3N)] (R = Me, CH2SiMe3, η3-C3H5, CH2Ph) in tetrahydrofuran (THF) or, more conveniently, by salt metathesis of the chloro precursor [HfCl(thf)(Xy-N3N)] with NaBEt3H in methylcyclohexane. The structure of a terminal hydride with a distorted capped trigonal bipyramidal geometry was characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction (d(Hf–H): 1.83(3) Å) and by 1H NMR spectroscopy. The unusually low field shifted 1H chemical shift for the hydride ligand was detected at δ 18.28 ppm. Dehydrogenative thermolysis of the hydride complex at 25 °C in benzene or toluene resulted in deprotonation of the α-hydrogen of one of the three XyNCH2CH2 groups in the ligand by the hydride, followed by the combination of this deprotonated anionic complex with cationic complex [Hf(Xy-N3N)]+ to give an unsymmetric dinuclear complex bridged by μ-H, μ-NXy, and μ,κN,κC-XyNCHCH2 groups. This decomposition product was characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction and by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy and analyzed by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Hydrogenation in THF at 25 °C reformed the hydride complex over a period of 48 h. The hydride complex reacted with olefins RHC═CH2 (R = H, Et, nHex, cHex, Ph) to give the corresponding anti-Markovnikov insertion products [Hf(CH2CH2R)(thf)n(Xy-N3N)]. Catalytic hydrogenation of olefins was achieved with 5 mol % of the hydride complex at 70 °C in THF or benzene.