Organometallics 2009, 28, 4741–4746 4741
DOI: 10.1021/om900298g
Synthesis and Protonolysis of Tungsten- and Molybdenum-Dinitrogen
Complexes Bearing Ruthenocenyldiphosphines
Masahiro Yuki, Tatsuya Midorikawa, Yoshihiro Miyake, and Yoshiaki Nishibayashi*
Institute of Engineering Innovation, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku,
Tokyo 113-8656, Japan
Received April 21, 2009
Tungsten- and molybdenum-dinitrogen complexes bearing 1,10-bis(diethylphosphino)ruthenocene
(depr) or 1,10-bis(dimethylphosphino)ruthenocene (dmpr) have been prepared and characterized
spectroscopically. Reactions of tungsten- and molybdenum-dinitrogen complexes bearing ruthenoce-
nyldiphosphines with an excess amount of sulfuric acid in methanol at room temperature give ammonia
in good yields.
Ferrocene and its derivatives are widely used in organome-
tallic chemistry and material sciences.1 Ferrocene-based ligands
are also of increasing importance in transition-metal-catalyzed
organic syntheses, including asymmetric transformations.2,3
Ferrocenyldiphosphines such as 1,10-bis(diphenylphosphino)-
ferrocene (dppf) are common diphosphine ligands because of
their relatively large bite angle, capacity for dative bond
formation with electron-deficient metal centers, and chemi-
cal robustness of the ferrocene skeleton.3 It is also known
that the catalytic behavior of complexes can be fine-tuned
by replacing the ferrocenyldiphosphines with ruthenocenyl-
diphosphines.4 In general, a ruthenocenyldiphosphine such
as 1,10-bis(diphenylphosphino)ruthenocene (dppr) gives a
slightly larger bite angle compared to dppf, as a consequence
of the larger atomic radii of ruthenium.5 In addition, it is also
possible that the difference in electronic properties between
ferrocene and ruthenocene moieties modifies the electronic
and structural properties of the corresponding complexes
bearing these metallocenes.6
Recently, we have reported the preparation of tungsten-
and molybdenum-dinitrogen complexes bearing ferrocenyldi-
phosphines as auxiliary ligands, [M(N2)2(depf)2] (M = W,
Mo; depf = 1,10-bis(diethylphosphino)ferrocene).7 Reactions
of these dinitrogen complexes with an excess amount of sulfuric
acid afforded ammonia in good yields. It is noteworthy that the
ferrocene moiety in these complexes plays an important role in
the conversion of the coordinated dinitrogen into ammonia.8
This result is in sharp contrast to the previous result that
protonolysis of tungsten- and molybdenum-dinitrogen com-
plexes bearing conventional diphosphines such as [M(N2)2-
(dppe)2] and [M(N2)2(depe)2] did not produce ammonia. In the
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*To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: ynishiba@
sogo.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
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2009 American Chemical Society
Published on Web 07/24/2009
pubs.acs.org/Organometallics