Heating K(4)Mo(2)Cl(8) and 2 equiv of Li[RC(NDipp)(2)] (R = H, Ph; Dipp = 2,6-i-Pr(2)C(6)H(3)) in tetrahydrofuran (THF) at 60 degrees C gives two paddlewheel type quadruply bonded dimolybdenum complexes, Mo(2)(mu-Cl)[Cl(2)Li(OEt(2))][mu-eta(2)-RC(N-2,6-i-Pr(2)C(6)H(3))(2)](2) (R = H (1), Ph (2)). The Mo-Mo bond lengths of 1 and 2 are 2.0875(4) and 2.0756(8) A, respectively, indicating typical Mo-Mo quadruple bonds. Reduction of 1 and 2 by two electrons results in the isolation of their corresponding Mo-Mo quintuple bonded complexes, Mo(2)[mu-eta(2)-RC(N-2,6-i-Pr(2)C(6)H(3))(2)](2) (R = H (3), Ph (4)), and the Mo-Mo bond lengths dramatically decrease to 2.0187(9) A (3) and 2.0157(4) A (4), a consequence of the formation of the second delta bond and representing the shortest metal-metal bonds beyond the first row elements. The Mo-Mo quintuple bonding characters are corroborated by DFT calculations at the level of BP86/def2-TZVP and BP86/def2-TZVPP.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.