Oxidative cleavage of tetraaryltetraphosphane-1,4-diides by nickel(ii) and palladium(ii): formation of unusual Ni0 and Pd0 diaryldiphosphene complexes†
Abstract
[Na2(thf)4(P4Mes4)] (1) (Mes = 2,4,6-Me3C6H2) reacts with one equivalent of [NiCl2(PEt3)2], [NiCl2(PMe2Ph)2], [PdCl2(PBun3)2] or [PdCl2(PMe2Ph)2] to give the corresponding nickel(0) and palladium(0) dimesityldiphosphene complexes [Ni(η2-P2Mes2)(PEt3)2] (2), [Ni(η2-P2Mes2)(PMe2Ph)2] (3), [Pd(η2-P2Mes2)(PBun3)2] (4) and [Pd(η2-P2Mes2)(PMe2Ph)2] (5), respectively, via a redox reaction. The molecular structures of the diphosphene complexes 2–5 are described.