Nickel and Palladium Complexes of a PP(O)P Pincer Ligand Based upon a peri-Substituted Acenaphthyl Scaffold and a Secondary Phosphine Oxide.

Abstract

A PP(O)P pincer ligand based upon a peri-substituted acenaphthyl (Ace) scaffold and a secondary phosphine oxide, (5-Ph2P-Ace-6-)2P(O)H, was prepared and fully characterized including a neutron diffraction study. The reaction with [Ni(H2O)6]Cl2 and PdCl2 produced ionic metal(II) complexes [κ3-P,P',P''((5-Ph2P-Ace-6-)2P(OH))MCl]Cl, which upon addition of Et3N gave rise to zwitterionic metal(II) complexes κ3-P,P',P''((5-Ph2P-Ace-6-)2P(O))MCl (M = Ni, Pd). The reaction with Ni(COD)2 (COD = cyclooctadiene) provided the η3-cyclooctenyl Ni(II) complex κ3-P,P',P''((5-Ph2P-Ace-6-)2P(O))Ni(η3-C8H13). A detailed complementary bonding analysis of the P-H, P-O, and P-M interactions was carried out (M = Ni, Pd).