Addition of Nitriles to Metal Sulfides: Possible Insight into the Metal Sulfide Catalyzed Hydrogenation of Nitriles and Dinitrogen

Abstract

In the presence of oxidants such as amine oxides, nitriles add to [ReS4]− ions to give bicyclic adducts (structure of the CF3CN adduct on the right). This reaction provides a new model for the activation of unsaturated nitrogen compounds by metal sulfides, which are known to be good catalyst for the hydrogenation of such substrates.