Experimental and Theoretical Investigations of Structural Isomers of Dichalcogenoimidodiphosphinate Dimers: Dichalcogenides or Spirocyclic Contact Ion Pairs?

Abstract

A synthetic protocol for the tert-butyl-substituted dichalcogenoimidodiphosphinates [Na(tmeda){(EPtBu2)2N}] (3 a, E=S; 3 b, E=Se; 3 c, E=Te) has been developed. The one-electron oxidation of the sodium complexes [Na(tmeda){(EPR2)2N}] with iodine produces a series of neutral dimers (EPR2NPR2E[BOND])2 (4 b, E=Se, R=iPr; 4 c, E=Te, R=iPr; 5 a, E=S, R=tBu; 5 b, E=Se, R=tBu; 5 c, E=Te, R=tBu). Attempts to prepare 4 a (E=S, R=iPr) in a similar manner produced a mixture including HN(SPiPr2). Compounds 4 b, 4 c and 5 a–c were characterised by multinuclear NMR spectra and by X-ray crystallography, which revealed two alternative structures for these dimeric molecules. The derivatives 4 b, 4 c, 5 a and 5 b exhibit acyclic structures with a central chalcogen–chalcogen linkage that is elongated by approximately 2 % (E=S), 6 % (E=Se) and 8 % (E=Te) compared to typical single-bond values. By contrast, 5 c adopts an unique spirocyclic contact ion-pair structure in which a [(TePtBu2)2N]− ion is Te,Te′ chelated to an incipient [(TePtBu2)2N]+ cyclic ion. DFT calculations of the relative energies of the two structural isomers indicate a trend towards increasing stability for the contact ion pair relative to the corresponding dichalcogenide on going from S to Se to Te for both the isopropyl and tert-butyl series. The two-electron oxidation of [Na(tmeda){(EPtBu2)2N}] (E=S, Se, Te) with iodine produced the salts [(EPtBu2)2N]+X− (7 a, E=S, X=I3; 7 b, E=Se, X=I; 7 c, E=Te, X=I), which were characterised by X-ray crystallography. Compound 7 a exists as a monomeric, ion-separated complex with [d(S[BOND]S)=2.084(2) Å]; 7 b and 7 c are dimeric [d(Se[BOND]Se)=2.502(1) Å; d(Te[BOND]Te)=2.884(1) Å].