The preparation and characterization of new ruthenium(II) silyl complexes containing the
Cp(PM3)2Ru moiety are described. The ruthenium(II) hydride Cp(PMe3)2RuH reacts with a
variety of chlorosilanes to produce the ruthenium(II) silyl complexes Cp(PMe3)2RuSiR3 [SiR3
= SiCl3 (1), SiHCl2 (2), SiH2Cl (3), SiMeCl2 (4), SiMeHCl (5), SiMe2Cl (6)] and the ruthenium(IV) dihydride [Cp(PMe3)2RuH2]Cl. Silyl complexes 1−6 undergo chloride/hydride exchange
with LiAlH4 to give the corresponding ruthenium(II) hydrosilyl complexes Cp(PMe3)2RuSiHR2
[SiHR2 = SiH3 (7), SiMeH2 (8), SiMe2H (9)]. Methylation of 6 with AlMe3 produces Cp(PMe3)2RuSiMe3 (10). A method for recovering the Cp(PMe3)2Ru moiety is described. The structure
of 1 was determined by X-ray crystallography. Complexes 1−10 represent the first complete
set of metal silicon compounds that contain every possible combination of H, Cl, and Me
groups on silicon. The effects of the substituents on the spectroscopic properties of 1−10
were examined as a function of Tolman's electronic parameter (χ
i
) for the substituents on
silicon. The infrared stretching frequency, ν(Si−H), and the NMR coupling constants, 2
J
SiP
and 1
J
SiH, exhibit a linear relationship with ∑χ
i
, consistent with Bent's rule. However, when
the NMR resonances SiR3 δ(29Si), SiH δ(1H), and SiMe δ(13C) were examined as a function
of ∑χ
i
, the silyl groups differentiated into three classes: dichlorosilyl, monochlorosilyl, and
“non-chlorosilyl”; within each class a linear but inverse relationship with ∑χ
i
was observed.
Silylene character in the Ru−Si bond resulting from d(Ru)−σ*(Si−Cl) π-back-bonding
interactions was used to explain the origin of the three silyl classes.