Straight linear tetranuclear complexes have been prepared by using
pyphos ligand (pyphos = 6-diphenylphosphino-2-pyridonate), which has unique coordinating sites
comprised of three kinds of elements, i.e.,
phosphine,
nitrogen, and oxygen atoms, in almost linear fashion. The starting
complex is the quadruply bonded dinuclear
molybdenum(II) complex, Mo2(pyphos)4
(1), which was prepared by the reaction of
Mo2(OAc)4 with sodium salt of
pyphos. Single crystal X-ray analysis revealed that 1
consists of quadruply-bonded Mo2 and
trans-arranged diphosphine
at both axial position of Mo2 core. Thus, transition
metal can be expected to be placed at both axial positions
of
Mo2 core. Thus, treatment of 1 with
Pd(II) and Pt(II) complexes gave rise to tetranuclear
complexes of the general
formula,
Mo2Pd2X4(pyphos)4
(2) and
Mo2Pt2X4(pyphos)4
(4) (a: X = Cl; b: X = Br;
c: X = I). Single crystal
X-ray analysis of 2a, 2b, and 4a
revealed the structure of complexes 2 and 4 that
consist of M(II)···MoMo···M(II)
skeleton supported by four pyphos ligands. They have
quadruply-bonded Mo2 core and no bonding between
a
M(II) atom and a Mo atom. Treatment of 2 and
4 with reducing reagents, photoirradiation, or thermal
reduction
resulted in the formation of metal−metal bonded tetranuclear
complexes
Mo2Pd2X2(pyphos)4
(6) and
Mo2Pt2X2(pyphos)4 (7) (a: X = Cl;
b: X = Br; c: X = I), respectively.
All of them were characterized by single crystal
X-ray analysis, which revealed that they consist of M(I)-MoMo-M(I)
skeleton supported by pyphos ligands. The
bond lengths between M(I) and Mo are short enough to be formally
regarded as a single M(I)-Mo bond, while the
longer Mo−Mo distance compared to that of 1, 2,
and 4 indicated that the Mo−Mo bond of 6 and
7 are formally
triple (π2δ component). The electrochemical study
indicates that all the atoms in the M−Mo−Mo−M system
are
electronically strongly coupled to allow an effective 2-electron redox
process, and thus the chemical reduction of 2
and 4 readily gives 6 and 7,
respectively.