Six‐Membered NHC Stabilized Monomeric Zinc Complexes

Abstract

AbstractThis paper describes the rare use of a 6‐membered saturated N‐heterocyclic carbene (NHC) known as 1,3‐di(2,6‐diisopropylphenyl) tetrahydropyrimidine‐2‐ylidene (abbreviated as 6‐SIDipp) as a ligand in zinc chemistry. We report on the investigation of the reactions between 6‐SIDipp and ZnX2, which resulted in a range of new monomeric 6‐SIDipp⋅ZnX2 complexes (X=Et (1), Cl (2), Br (3), and I (4)). We also prepared a new NHC zinc complex where the two substituents of the zinc atom are different, 6‐SIDipp⋅Zn(Et)Br (7) through the reaction of the proligand [6‐SIDippH]Br with ZnEt2. We have observed that the reactions of complex 1 with sulfur and HBpin led to the removal of the ZnEt2 moiety, resulting in the formation of a C=S double bond and a B−H activation product, respectively. Lastly, the reaction of 1 with five‐membered NHCs led to the exchange of carbene and the formation of either 5‐IDipp⋅ZnEt2 (8) or 5‐SIDipp⋅ZnEt2 (9).