Affiliation:
1. Department of Chemistry XRD Facility University of Pennsylvania 231 S. 34th St. Philadelphia PA 19104 USA
2. Department of Chemistry Drexel University 32 S. 32nd St. Philadelphia PA 19104 USA
Abstract
AbstractDeprotonation of our pentadentate N‐Heterocyclic Carbene (NHC) ligand with lithium diisopropylamine in tetrahydrofuran and subsequent salt metathesis with CrCl3THF3 readily forms the complex PhCC4MeCrCl (1), a S=3/2 species in moderate yield. DFT calculations reveal three singly occupied molecular orbitals with π‐backbonding character to the square‐capping framework, UV‐Vis spectroscopy reveals 3 bands ascribed to d‐to‐d transitions, and cyclic voltammetry reveals an irreversible and quazi‐reversible reduction events as well as an irreversible oxidation event. We attempted to exchange the chloride ligand of 1 through salt‐metathesis with lithium phenylacetylide without success, the absence of reactivity is rationalized considering our XRD and DFT results.