dPulsed 355 nm laser excitation of toluene or hexane solutions containing W-L (W) mer, transW(CO)(3)(PCy3)(2);PCy3 = tricyclohexylphosphine; L = H-2, D-2, N-2, C2H4, or CH3CN) resulted in the photoejection of ligand L and the formation of W. A combination of nanosecond UV-vis flash photolysis and time-resolved step-scan FTIR (s(2)-FTIR) spectroscopy was used to spectroscopically characterize the photoproduct, W, and directly measure the rate constants for binding of the ligands L to W to reform W-L under pseudo-first-order conditions. From these data, equilibrium constants for the binding of L to W were estimated. The UV-vis flash photolysis experiments were also performed as a function of pressure in order to determine the activation volumes, Delta V-+/-, for the reaction of W with L. Small activation volumes ranging from -7 to +3 cm(3) mol(-1) were obtained, suggesting that despite the crowded W center an interchange mechanism between L and the agostic W...H-C interaction of one of the PCy3 ligands (or a weak interaction with a solvent molecule) at the W center takes place in the transition state. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed at the B3LYP level of theory on W with/without the agostic C-H interaction of the PCy3 ligand and also on the series of model complexes, mer,trans-W(CO)(3)(PH3)(2)L (W'-L, where L = H-2, N-2, C2H4, CO, or n-hexane) in an effort to confirm the infrared spectroscopic assignment of the W-L complexes, to simulate and assign the electronic transitions in the UV-vis spectra, to determine the nature of the HOMO and LUMO of W-L, and to understand the agostic C-H interaction of the ligand vs solvent interaction. Our DFT calculations indicate an entropy effect that favors agostic W...H-C interaction over a solvent sigma C-H interaction by 8-10 kcal mol(-1).