Clare Henniona,
Klara J. Jonassonb,
Ola F. Wendt*b and
Andreas Roodt*a
aDepartment of Chemistry, University of the Free State, P.O. Box 339, Bloemfontein, 9300, South Africa. E-mail: roodta@ufs.ac.za; Fax: +27 (0)51 4446384; Tel: +27 (0)51 401 2547
bCentre for Analysis and Synthesis, Department of Chemistry, Lund University, P.O. Box 124, S-22100 Lund, Sweden. E-mail: ola.wendt@chem.lu.se
First published on 29th July 2013
The substitution reaction of trans-[Rh(Cl)(CO)(SbPh3)2] (1) with tris(2,4-di-tert-butylphenyl)phosphite (2,4-TBPP) to form trans-[Rh(Cl)(CO)(2,4-TBPP)2] (4) in two consecutive steps has been investigated by UV-vis stopped-flow spectrophotometry. The experiments were performed in dichloromethane and in ethyl acetate, at 298 K and 268 K respectively for the first reaction step, and for the second reaction step over a temperature range from 278 to 313 K in both solvents. The first step is very fast (up to 1630 s−1) and on the limit of what is observable with the stopped-flow technique. Introduction of the five-coordinate complex trans-[Rh(Cl)(CO)(SbPh3)3] (2) in equilibrium with (1), by adding an excess SbPh3, led to a significant decrease in overall reaction rate for the formation of the intermediate trans-[Rh(Cl)(CO)(SbPh3)2(2,4-TBPP)] (3). Activation parameters for the second substitution reaction, in which 3 is converted to 4, has been determined as ΔH‡ = 22.85 ± 0.17 and 28.38 ± 0.10 kJ mol−1 and ΔS‡ = −144.7 ± 0.6 and −100.9 ± 0.4 J mol−1 K−1 for CH2Cl2 and EtOAc respectively, supporting an associative pathway. A strongly coordinating solvent promotes both reactions. In all reaction steps a strong tendency for stibines to promote 5-coordinated, fairly stable intermediates is manifested.
Here we report on the kinetics and mechanism for the two consecutive substitution reactions of trans-[Rh(Cl)(CO)(SbPh3)2] (1) with the bulky phosphite tris(2,4-di-tert-butylphenyl)phosphite (2,4-TBPP).
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Fig. 1 (a) Changes in the IR spectra for the addition of 2,4-TBPP to trans-[Rh(Cl)(CO)(SbPh3)2] (1) in CHCl3 at T = 25 °C. [Rh] = 5 mmol dm−3, [2,4-TBPP] correspond to 0, 1.5, 3, 5, 7.5 and 10 mmol dm−3 for 0, 0.3, 0.6, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 equivalents respectively. (b) 31P NMR following 2,4-TBPP addition to [Rh(Cl)(CO)(SbPh3)2] (1) in CDCl3 at 25 °C. [Rh] = 11.5 mmol dm−3, [2,4-TBPP] = 3.5, 6.9, 11.5, 17.3 and 23 mmol dm−3 for 0.3, 0.6, 1, 1.5 and 2.0 equivalents respectively. |
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Scheme 1 General mechanism for the two consecutive substitution reactions to form (4) from (1). |
Mixing 1 and 2,4-TBPP in equimolar amounts gave compound 3 in high yield in solution. However, by allowing this mixture to equilibrate for 24 h, the formation of both 4 and 1 is observed, indicating reversibility in the overall reaction, i.e. in both steps.
An IR spectrum of this mixture is shown in Fig. 2. From this, approximate equilibrium constants K1 and K2 of (3.0 ± 0.9) × 103 mol−1 dm3 and (2.5 ± 0.7) × 10−2 mol dm−3 can be extracted (see ESI†).
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Fig. 2 Changes in the IR spectrum of compound 3 as a function of time, generated by the addition of one equivalent of 2,4-TBPP to trans-[Rh(Cl)(CO)(SbPh3)2] (1) in CHCl3 at T = 25 °C to yield (3), [Rh] = 5 mmol dm−3, [2,4-TBPP] = 5 mmol dm−3 (= 1.0 equivalent), at ca. 0 h and 24 h respectively. |
To slow down the reaction to a manageable rate we took advantage of our previous work, which has shown that addition of an excess SbPh3 to the four-coordinate complex (1) gives an equilibrium with the five-coordinate trans-[Rh(Cl)(CO)(SbPh3)3] (2).3 Thus, the introduction of (2) would decrease the concentration of the bis-stibine complex (1), making the observation of the first step possible. Any reaction of the substantially more crowded 18-electron Rh(I) centre of (2) seemed highly unlikely. In addition to this modification, the reaction in ethyl acetate was carried out at −5 °C. Fig. 3 shows the observed rate constant for the first substitution step, kobs1, as a function of triphenylstibine concentration in CH2Cl2 and EtOAc, respectively, bearing out our assumption that the reaction is indeed strongly inhibited by the addition of excess stibine.13 The clearly higher reactivity of the bis-stibine relative to the tris-stibine compound supports an associative attack on (1) for the first substitution reaction, where the crowded metal coordination sphere of the tris-stibine inhibits the attack of the entering ligand and thus gives slower substitution rates. This is also supported by the qualitative observation that the reaction is higher order in added phosphite. The data point scattering that is evident in Fig. 3b at higher concentrations refers to a limited solubility of the triphenylstibine at the low operating temperature.
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Fig. 3 Observed rate constant as a function of [SbPh3] for the reaction of trans-[Rh(Cl)(CO)(SbPh3)2] with 2,4-TBPP to form trans-[Rh(Cl)(CO)(SbPh3)2(2,4-TBPP)] in (a) CH2Cl2 at T = 25 °C and (b) ethyl acetate at −5 °C. [2,4-TBPP] = 6.5 mmol dm−3. The solid line denotes the best fit to eqn (1) and the dashed line the best fit to eqn (2). Error bars show errors as indicated in the ESI† (<5% (a) and <3% (b)). |
Including the reversible association to a tris-stibine complex we then arrive at Scheme 2.
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Scheme 2 Modified mechanism to form (4) from (1) and (2). |
Assuming that (i) 2 is unreactive towards associative attack and (ii) [Rh]tot ≪ [SbPh3], [2,4-TBPP], the rate law for the first substitution reaction in Scheme 2 is as given in eqn (1).
kobs1 = k1[2,4-TBPP]/(1 + Keq[SbPh3]) + k−1[SbPh3] | (1) |
Fitting the data to eqn (1) shows that it adequately describes the observed kinetics under these conditions, as illustrated in Fig. 3. The data thus obtained are reported in Table 1, also indicating good agreement between the kinetically and thermodynamically determined equilibrium constant for step 1. It can be noted that only when assuming 3 to be 5-coordinate do we arrive at good agreement between thermodynamically and kinetically determined equilibrium constants.
(Eqn (1)) | Keq/mol−1 dm3 | k1/10−5 mol−1 dm3 s−1 | k−1/10−2 s−1 | K1b/mol−1 dm3 |
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a Assuming reversibility as predicted by Scheme 2, thermodynamic equilibrium constants for steps 1 and 2 may be estimated using IR molar absorptivities (see ESI): K1 = [3]/{[1] [2,4-TBPP]} = (3.0 ± 0.9) × 103 M−1, K2 = {[4]·[Sb]2}/{[3]·[2,4-TBPP]} = (2.5 ± 0.7) × 10−2 M, yielding an overall equilibrium for the complete reaction Ko = K1 × K2(7.5 ± 3.2) × 10; esd's of ca. 30% are assumed.b K1 = k1/k−1. | ||||
CH2Cl2 (298.2 K) | 25.0 ± 1.0 | 6.50 ± 0.07 | 2.62 ± 0.06 | (2.48 ± 0.06) × 103 |
EtOAc (268.2 K) | 108 ± 14 | 5.6 ± 0.4 | 0 ± 2 | — |
To test the possibility that the reversibility in the K1-step is insignificant, we also fitted the derived rate law excluding the k−1-path to the data, cf. Fig. 3 and eqn (2).
kobs1 = k1[2,4-TBPP]/(1 + Keq[SbPh3]) | (2) |
In ethyl acetate the fit is not significantly worse, but in dichloromethane there is a clear and systematic deviation of the fit at higher stibine concentrations. To summarise, it is thus clear that in CH2Cl2 the behaviour at higher stibine concentrations is not well described without assuming reversibility in the K1-step.14 This is of course further strengthened by the good agreement between the thermodynamically and kinetically determined equilibrium constants.
Here it can be noted that our model as outlined in Scheme 2 fits both the kinetic and equilibrium data as seen from Fig. 3 and Table 1, but if 3 is assumed to be 4-coordinate (i.e. if reaction 1 were a substitution rather than an association reaction) this would still be in agreement with the kinetic data (since the rate laws in eqn (1) and (2) would be the same) but there would be a large discrepancy between the IR-determined equilibrium constants and the ones obtained from the kinetics. Only when we assign compound 3 to be 5-coordinate can we explain both the kinetic and equilibrium data. At first it may seem surprising that 1 undergoes substitution via a spectroscopically detected 5-coordinate intermediate but one of the few documented A mechanisms was reported for a Rh stibine complex.15
The results of IR and 31P NMR spectroscopy measurements indicate a second substitution reaction, forming 4 from 3. Under pseudo-first-order conditions, where [Rh]tot ≪ [2,4-TBPP], the observed rate constant is linearly dependent on phosphite concentration as indicated in eqn (3) with no observable intercept or dependence on stibine concentration ([SbPh3] ≪ 1). Under the kinetic conditions there is thus no observed reversibility.
kobs2 = k2 [2,4-TBPP] | (3) |
The reaction was followed at three different temperatures over a 35 °C range and Fig. 4 shows the observed rate constant for the second substitution step kobs2 vs. [2,4-TBPP] in CH2Cl2 and EtOAc respectively. The zero intercept in Fig. 4 confirms that under the conditions employed, there is no detectable reverse reaction for the second substitution step in either solvent. This rate law is in accordance with a direct substitution as indicated in Scheme 2 (k2-path). Fitting the second order rate constants to the Eyring equation (cf. Fig. S3†) gave activation parameters, and those together with the corresponding rate constants are given in Table 2. The large negative values for the entropy of activation and the low enthalpy of activation in both solvents support an associative substitution mechanism. In fact, the enthalpies are in the range typically only found for reactions involving highly π-accepting groups such as stibines and stannyl ligands, giving π-stabilisation of the transition state.16 The fact that 3 is 5-coordinate obviously means that two stibines are lost in the reaction and the dependence on stibine concentration may be more complicated than indicated by eqn (3). Based on the current data we cannot exclude that stibine loss takes place in a fast pre-equilibrium prior to the rate determining associative attack by phosphite.
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Fig. 4 Observed rate constants for the second reaction in Scheme 1 as a function of [2,4-TBPP] at different temperatures: (○) 5 °C, (□) 25 °C, and (•) 40 °C. Reaction in (a) CH2Cl2 and (b) ethyl acetate. [Rh] = 0.25 mmol dm−3. |
k2/M−1 s−1 (298.2 K) | ΔH‡/kJ mol−1 | ΔS‡/J K−1 mol−1 | |
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CH2Cl2 | 17.0 ± 0.4 | 22.85 ± 0.17 | −144.7 ± 0.6 |
EtOAc | 355 ± 10 | 28.38 ± 0.10 | −100.9 ± 0.4 |
Reaction path k1 to form trans-[Rh(Cl)(CO)(SbPh3)2(2,4-TBPP)] (3) is significantly faster than the following consecutive step, k2, to form trans-[Rh(Cl)(CO)(2,4-TBPP)2] (4), differing by 4–5 orders-of-magnitude. This is entirely in line with what one would expect. An associative attack on a four-coordinate complex is expected to be faster than the one on a five-coordinate complex. It is also expected that the introduction of the bulky phosphite will lower the reactivity on steric grounds.17
A significant difference is apparent between the two solvents from the rate constants presented in Tables 1 and 2. Even though the values of k1 and k−1 were calculated at different temperatures for the two solvents and cannot be directly compared, an increase of at least an order-of-magnitude can be expected in ethyl acetate. However, the reaction rates for the k2 pathway allow direct comparison and display rate constants calculated for ethyl acetate exceeding those for CH2Cl2 by between one and two orders-of-magnitude. The equilibrium between 1 and 2 has been previously investigated by Otto and Roodt, showing that the formation of 2 is favoured in ethyl acetate over CH2Cl2.2 This trend is in agreement with the obtained results for the calculated Keq values: 25.0 ± 1.0 M−1 and 108 ± 14 M−1 for CH2Cl2 and ethyl acetate respectively, although approximately 8–12 times smaller than those determined from UV-vis thermodynamic studies. The exact reason for this observed difference is not clear from the current data. Nevertheless, the relative difference is very clear. The two solvents have similar polarities, whilst ethyl acetate has a significantly larger coordinating ability.18 It is interesting that the higher reactivity observed in EtOAc is entirely entropic in origin, possibly due to a superior solvation of the nucleophile in the ground state. Thus, the enhanced reaction rates in ethyl acetate are supposedly attributed to the coordinating ability of the solvent. A possible explanation for this might be that the solvent coordination to the metal centre gives a Rh–Sb bond lengthening, thus opening up a larger cavity around the metal for the entering phosphite ligand. This concept would also apply to the equilibrium between 1 and 2, where a strongly coordinating solvent enhances the formation of the five-coordinated tris-stibine 2.
Footnote |
† Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c3dt51757h |
This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2013 |