Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.132, No.9, 3115-3127, 2010
Electronic Communication in Dinuclear C-4-Bridged Tungsten Complexes
The dinuclear tungsten carbyne [X(CO)(2)(dppe)WC4W(dppe)(CO)(2)X] (dppe = 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane; X = 1 (3), Cl (7)) complexes were prepared from the bisacetylide precursor Li-2[(CO)(3)(dppe)WC4W(CO)(3)(dppe)] (2) via oxidative replacement of one CO group at each tungsten center with a halide substituent. The iodide ligand in 3 could be substituted with isothiocyanate or triflate resulting in [X(CO)(2)(dppe)WC4W(dppe)(CO)(2)X] complexes (X = NCS (8), OTf (9)). Substitution of two and all four CO ligands in 3 was achieved via subsequent photolytic or thermal activation with dppe. The "half-substituted" complex [I(CO)(2)(dppe)WC4W(dppe)(2)I] (11) allows reversible one-electron oxidation which results in the monocationic species [I(CO)(2)(dppe)WC4W(dppe)(2)I][PF6] (11[PF6]). The "all-dppe substituted" complex [I(dppe)(2)WC4W(dppe)(2)I] (10) possesses two reversible redox states leading to the stable monocationic [I(dppe)(2)WC4W(dppe)(2)I][PF6] (10[PF6]) and the dicationic [I(dppe)(2)WC4W(dppe)(2)I][PF6](2) (10[PF6](2)) Compounds. The complexes 2, 3, [W(CO)(3)(dppe)(C CPh)(I)] (4), [X(CO)(2)(dppe)W C-C(Me)=C(Me)-C W(dppe)(CO)(2)X] (X = 1 (5), Cl (6)), 7, 8, 10, 11 and 11[PF6] were characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The electronic properties of complexes 10, 10[PF6], 10[PF6](2), as well as of compounds 11 and 11[PF6], were investigated using cyclic voltammetry (CV), EPR, IR, near-IR spectroscopy, and magnetization measurements. These studies showed that the [W] C-C C-C [W] canonical form of the bridged system with strong tungsten-carbon interaction contributes significantly to the electronic coupling in the mixed-valent species 10[PF6] (comproportionation constant K-c 7.5 x 10(4)) and to the strong antiferromagnetic coupling in the dicationic complex 10[PF6](2) (exchange integral J = -167 cm(-1)). In addition, the rate for electron transfer between the tungsten centers in 10[PF6] was evaluated by near-IR and IR studies.