New insights into the mechanism of methane formation in the protonation of methyl complexes†
Abstract
The reaction between [NiMe{(Ph2PCH2CH2)2PPh}]+ and anhydrous HCl (in MeCN) involves initial protonation of nickel to form [Ni(H)Me{(Ph2PCH2CH2)2PPh}]2+, but methane is not produced until after additional, direct protonation of the methyl group.