Monomeric and Dimeric Nickel Complexes Derived from a Pincer Ligand Featuring a Secondary Amine Donor Moiety

Abstract

Reaction of NiBr(2)(CH(3)CN)(x) with the unsymmetrical pincer ligand m-(i-Pr(2)PO)(CH(2)NHBn)C(6)H(4) (Bn = CH(2)Ph) gives the complex (R,S)-kappa(P),kappa(C),kappa(N)-{2-(i-Pr(2)PO),6-(CH(2)NHBn)-C(6)H(3)}Ni(II)Br, 1, featuring an asymmetric secondary amine donor moiety. Deprotonation of the latter with methyl lithium gave a dark brown compound that could not be characterized directly, but fully characterized derivatives prepared from this compound indicate that it is the LiBr adduct of the 14-electron amido species [kappa(P),kappa(C),kappa(N)-{2-(i-Pr(2)PO),6-(CH(2)NBn)-C(6)H(3)}Ni], 2. Thus, 2.LiBr reacts with water to regenerate 1, while reaction with excess benzyl or allyl bromide gave the POCN-type pincer complexes 3 and 4, respectively, featuring tertiary amine donor moieties. On the other hand, heating 2.LiBr at 60 degrees C led to loss of LiBr and dimerization to generate the orange crystalline compound [mu(N);kappa(P),kappa(C),kappa(N)-{2-(i-Pr(2)PO),6-(CH(2)NBn)-C(6)H(3)}Ni](2), 5. Solid state structural studies show that 1, 3, and 4 are monomeric, square planar complexes involving one Ni-N interaction, whereas complex 5 is a C(2)-symmetric dimer involving four Ni-N interactions and a Ni(2)N(2) core featuring a short Ni-Ni distance (2.51 A). Preliminary reactivity tests have shown that 5 is stable toward weak nucleophiles such as acetonitrile but reacts with strong nucleophiles such as CO or 2,6-Me(2)(C(6)H(3))NC. Reactions with protic reagents showed that phthalimide appears to break the dimer to generate a monomeric species, whereas alcohols appear to leave the dimer intact, giving rise instead to adducts through N...H...O interactions. These ROH adducts of 5 were found to be active precatalysts for the alchoholysis of acrylonitrile with up to 2000 catalytic turnover numbers.