Zerovalent Platinum Chemistry. Part 12. Unexpected Reactivity of towards ortho and para Quinones and the Structures of 1:1 adducts with p-Benzoquinone and 1,4-Naphthoquinone

Article abstract of DOI:10.1039/DT9910000065

The reaction of with both o- and p-benzoquinones produces only 1:1 adducts characterised by a pseudo-ozonide metallacycle involving one carbonyl group with a spiranic steric arrangement.Strangely the second carbonyl group of the quinone does not react with an excess of .The X-ray structures of the adducts with p-benzoquinone and 1,4-naphthoquinone show a skew conformation of the metallacycle with the quinone moiety still planar.Reaction with produces only a slight perturbation of the ?-electronic conjugated structure of the quinone, since the C=O bond length of the free carbonyl group does not change.Molecular models suggest the absence of steric hindrance for a second pseudo-ozonide metallacycle involving the para carbonyl group.It is suggested that the lack of reactivity could be of kinetic origin.