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Low temperature in-situ UV irradiation of toluene solutions containing bis(alkene)rhodium complexes and parahydrogen in conjunction with NMR monitoring enables the characterisation of unstable eta 2-solvent complexes and dihydrogen activation products.

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Photochemical reaction of [CH2(eta5-C5H4)2][Rh(C2H4)2]2 1 with dmso led to the stepwise formation of [CH2(eta5-C5H4)2][Rh(C2H4)2][Rh(C2H4)(dmso)] 2a and [CH2(eta5-C5H4)2][Rh(C2H4)(dmso)]2 2b. Photolysis of 1 with vinyltrimethylsilane ultimately yields three isomeric products of [CH2(eta5-C5H4)2][Rh(CH2=CHSiMe3)2]2, 3a, 3b and 3c which are differentiated by the relative orientations of the vinylsilane. When this reaction is undertaken in d6-benzene, H/D exchange between the solvent and the alpha-proton of the vinylsilane is revealed. In addition evidence for two isomers of the solvent complex [CH2(eta5-C5H4)2][Rh(C2H4)2][Rh(C2H4)(eta2-toluene)] was obtained in these and related experiments when the photolysis was completed at low temperature without substrate, although no evidence for H/D exchange was observed. Photolysis of 1 with Et3SiH yielded the sequential substitution products [CH2(eta5-C5H4)2][Rh(C2H4)2][Rh(C2H4)(SiEt3)H] 4a, [CH2(eta5-C5H4)2][Rh(C2H4)(SiEt3)H]2 4b, [CH2(eta5-C5H4)2][Rh(C2H4)(SiEt3)H][Rh(SiEt3)2(H)2] 4c and [CH2(eta5-C5H4)2][Rh(SiEt3)2(H)2]2 4d; deuteration of the alpha-ring proton sites, and all the silyl protons, of 4d was demonstrated in d6-benzene. This reaction is further complicated by the formation of two Si-C bond activation products, [CH2(eta5-C5H4)2][RhH(mu-SiEt2)]2 5 and [CH2(eta5-C5H4)2][(RhEt)(RhH)(mu-SiEt2)2] 6. Complex 5 was also produced when 1 was photolysed with Et2SiH2. When the photochemical reactions with Et3SiH were repeated at low temperatures, two isomers of the unstable C-H activation products, the vinyl hydrides [CH2(eta5-C5H4)2][{Rh(SiEt3)H}{Rh(SiEt3)}(mu-eta1,eta2-CH=CH2)] 7a and 7b, were obtained. Thermally, 4c was shown to form the ring substituted silyl migration products [(eta5-C5H4)CH2(C5H3SiEt3)][Rh(SiEt3)2(H)2]2 8 while 4b formed [CH2(C5H3SiEt3)2][Rh(SiEt3)2(H)2]2 (9a and 9b) upon reaction with excess silane. The corresponding photochemical reaction with Me3SiH yielded the expected products [CH2(eta5-C5H4)2][Rh(C2H4)2][Rh(C2H4)(SiMe3)H] 10a, [CH2(eta5-C5H4)2][Rh(C2H4)(SiMe3)H]2 10b, [CH2(eta5-C5H4)2][Rh(C2H4)(SiMe3)H][Rh(SiMe3)2(H)2] 10c and [CH2(eta5-C5H4)2][Rh(SiMe3)2(H)2]2 10d. However, three Si-C bond activation products, [CH2(eta5-C5H4)2][(RhMe)(RhH)(mu-SiMe2)2] 11, [CH2(eta5-C5H4)2][(Rh{SiMe3})(RhMe)(mu-SiMe2)2] 12 and [CH2(eta5-C5H4)2][(Rh{SiMe3})(RhH)(mu-SiMe2)2] 13 were also obtained in these reactions.

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