The tris(cyclopentadienyl) yttrium complexes Cp 3 Y-(THF), Cp Me 3 Y(THF), Cp″ 3 Y, Cp″ 2 YCp, and Cp″ 2 YCp Me [Cp = C 5 H 5 , Cp Me = C 5 H 4 Me, Cp″ = C 5 H 3 (SiMe 3 ) 2 ] have been treated with potassium graphite in the presence of 2.2.2-cryptand to search for more stable examples of complexes featuring the recently discovered Y 2+ ion first isolated in [K(18-crown-6)][Cp′ 3 Y] and [K(2.2.2-cryptand)][Cp′ 3 Y], 1-Y (Cp′ = C 5 H 4 SiMe 3 ). Reduction of the tris(cyclopentadienyl) complexes generates dark solutions like that of 1-Y, and the EPR spectra contain doublets with g values between 1.990 and 1.991 and hyperfine coupling constants of 34−47 gauss that are consistent with the presence of Y 2+ . [K(2.2.2-cryptand)][Cp″ 2 YCp], 2-Y, was characterizable by X-ray crystallography. Reduction of the Cp″ 3 Gd, Cp″ 2 GdCp, and Cp″ 2 GdCp Me complexes containing the larger metal gadolinium were also examined. In each case, dark solutions and EPR spectra like that of [K(2.2.2-cryptand)][Cp′ 3 Gd], 1-Gd, were obtained, and [K(2.2.2-cryptand)][Cp″ 2GdCp], 2-Gd, was crystallographically characterizable. None of the new yttrium and gadolinium complexes displayed greater stability than 1-Y and 1-Gd. Exploration of this reduction chemistry with indenyl ligands did not give evidence for +2 complexes. The only definitive information obtained from reductions of the Cp In 3 Ln (Cp In = C 9 H 7 , Ln = Y, Ho, Dy) complexes was the X-ray crystal structure of {K(2.2.2-cryptand)} 2 {[(C 9 H 7 ) 2 Dy(μ−η 5 :η 1 -C 9 H 6 )] 2 }, a complex containing the first example of the indenyl dianion, (C 9 H 6 ) 2− , derived from C−H bond activation of the (C 9 H 7 ) 1− monoanion. Density functional theory analysis of these results provides an explanation for the observed hyperfine coupling constants in the yttrium complexes and for the C−H bond activation observed for the indenyl complex.
■ INTRODUCTIONRecent studies of the reduction chemistry of yttrium and the f elements have shown that the +2 ions are available for yttrium, 1 all the lanthanides 2−4 (except promethium, which was not studied due to its radioactivity), uranium, 5 and thorium. 6 These new oxidation states have been obtained by reduction of the tris(cyclopentadienyl) complexes, Cp′ 3 M and Cp″ 3 M [Cp′ = C 5 H 4 SiMe 3 , M = Y, lanthanide, U; Cp″ = C 5 H 3 (SiMe 3 ) 2 , M = La, Ce, Th] to form (Cp′ 3 M) 1− and (Cp″ 3 M) 1− complexes, Schemes 1 and 2.Structural, spectroscopic, and density functional theory analyses suggest that these new ions could be accessed for the first time because the (Cp′ 3 ) 3− and (Cp″ 3 ) 3− ligand sets allow the d z 2 orbital to be populated such that the new ions have 4f n 5d 1 electron configurations for the lanthanides, 5f 3 6d 1 for uranium, 6d 2 for thorium, and 4d 1 for yttrium. This is consistent with numerous theoretical analyses of the f elements in trigonal tris(cyclopentadienyl) coordination environments. 8−13 Whereas reduction of a 4f n Ln 3+ ion to a 4f n+1 Ln 2+ product would be difficult due to the highly negative calculated generic r...