Stereochemistry of oxidative addition reactions of cycloneophyl complexes of Platinum(II): A methylene insertion reaction from dichloromethane

Abstract

Unusual features are observed in studies of oxidative addition to cycloneophylplatinum(II) complexes [Pt(CH2CMe2C6H4)(NN)], 2, NN = 3,4,7,8-tetramethyl-1,10-phenanthroline (phen*) or 3, NN = 4,4′-di-t-butyl-2,2′-bipyridine (bubipy). The oxidative addition of 4-nitrobenzyl bromide to 2 or of HgCl2 to 3 occurs with cis stereochemistry to give [PtBr(CH2-4-C6H4NO2)(CH2CMe2C6H4)(phen*)] or [PtCl(HgCl)(CH2CMe2C6H4)(bubipy)], whereas similar reactions with dimethylplatinum(II) complexes occur with trans stereochemistry. The reaction of 2 with CH2Cl2 occurs, with formal insertion of methylene into the arylplatinum bond, to give [PtCl2(CH2CMe2C6H4CH2)(phen*)], the first time such a reaction has been observed with the reagent CH2Cl2. Hydrogen peroxide reacts with 2 to give oxidative addition with trans stereochemistry to give [Pt(OH)2(CH2CMe2C6H4)(phen*)] and reaction with chlorinated solvent then gives [PtCl(OH)(CH2CMe2C6H4)(phen*)]. Depending on the reaction conditions, the peroxyacid m-ClC6H4CO3H reacts with 2 to give [Pt(OH2)2(CH2CMe2C6H4)(phen*)](m-ClC6H4CO2)2, [{Pt(OH2)2(CH2CMe2C6H4)(phen*)}.{Pt(OH)(OH2)(CH2CMe2C6H4)(phen*)}](m-ClC6H4CO2)3, or [PtCl{OOC(=O)C6H4Cl-m}(CH2CMe2C6H4)(phen*)]. Computational studies indicate that the stereochemistry of oxidative addition may be determined by kinetic or thermodynamic factors in different cases, and that the unique CH2 insertion reaction with CH2Cl2 occurs by a radical mechanism. X-ray structure determinations are reported for eight of the platinum(IV) complexes.