W. Petz, B. Neumüller
ARTICLE
The NMR signals were assigned to (ClCH2CH2O(O) of the C–C bond and formation of the salt 6; an intermediate
CC{PPh3}2)Cl (4) and (HC{PPh3}2)Cl (5), respectively. Lay- protonated version of 2 could not be found (Scheme 2).
ering the solution with n-pentane generated two sorts of crys-
talline materials. On fractional crystallization the first part of
crystals turned out to be 5. Further colorless crystals of
3 Crystal Structure Determination
4·2C2H4Cl2 were obtained as the result of a nucleophilic sub-
stitution of one chlorine atom by the oxygen atom of the betain
2. If 4 was dissolved in DCM the signal of 4 slowly disap-
peared in favor of the signal of 5; no alkylation with DCM
was observed (Scheme 1).
Crystals suitable for X-ray analyses were obtained from
4·2C2H4Cl2, 5, and 6·H2O. Crystallographic details were sum-
marized in Table 1. Molecular structures of 4 and 6 are shown
in Figure 1 and Figure 2, respectively; the molecular structure
of 5 is presented as Supporting Information (Figure S1). In
4·2C2H4Cl2 the solvent molecules were strongly disordered.
The residual electron density of these molecules was omitted
with SQUEEZE.[16]
3.1 Molecular Structure of 4·2C2H4Cl2
The molecular structure of 4·2C2H4Cl2 is depicted in Fig-
ure 1. The environments at C(1) and C(2) are exactly planar
indicating sp2 hybridization of the carbon atoms. No contacts
exist to the Cl– ion or to the disordered solvent molecules. The
C(1)–C(2) bond length has decreased from 1.494(3) in 2 to
1.459(4) in 4 indicating a slight increase in double bond char-
acter upon alkylation. The cation of 4 can be compared with
organic esters and with the neutral compounds [Cl2SnO(O)
CC{PPh3}2] (7)[9] and [(CO)5WO(O)CC{PPh3}2] (8),[8] in
which ClCH2CH2+ are replaced by SnCl2 and W(CO)5, respec-
tively. The planes OCO and PCP form a dihedral angle of 29°
which is larger than the related angle in 2 (10°) or even in 7
(13°) and 8 (9°). Similar as in 4 the two C–O bond lengths are
different and the longer one belongs to the coordinating CO
function [7: 1.251(7)/1.297(7), Δ = 0.046; 8: 1.241(6)/
1.290(6), Δ = 0.049; 4: 1.221(5)/1.363(5), Δ = 0.142 Å) and
the largest difference Δ of C–O bond lengths is recorded for
4. The related pairs of bond length in typical esters are 1.202/
1.333 Å; both values are slightly shorter than those in 4. The
elongated CO bond in 4 corresponds to the low ν(CO) vi-
bration found by IR spectroscopic studies.
Scheme 1. Reaction of 2 in 1,2-dichloroethane to give 4 and 5.
In the IR spectrum of 4 a strong band at 1670 cm–1 was
found, which was assigned to the ν(CO) vibration of the free
carbonyl function; a further strong band at 1230 cm–1 may be
attributed to the vibration of the C–O–C group. A comparison
with typical organic esters shows that the carbonyl vibration
of 4 has shifted to lower frequencies; ester carbonyl groups
absorb in a narrow range between 1735 and 1770 cm–1.[14]
A
similar cationic ester was obtained from alkylation of the be-
tain NHCǞCO2; the ν(CO) vibration of (NHCǞC(O)OEt)+
amounts to 1745 cm–1[15] being in the range of organic esters.
The shift to lower frequency in 4 can be explained with a
higher π electron density at the carboxylate carbon atom due
to some π donation from the occupied p orbital of the CL2
carbon atom.
Attempts to dissolve 2 in 1,2-difluorobenzene gave a sus-
pension. Compound 2 is nearly insoluble in this solvent, but
the 31P NMR spectrum of the supernatant solution showed a
singlet at δ = 20.0 ppm. Filtration after several hours stirring
at room temperature and layering of the solution with n-pent-
ane gave colorless crystals, which turned out to be the hydro-
gen carbonate (HC{PPh3}2)(HCO3)·H2O (6·H2O). The forma-
tion of the hydrogen carbonate can be explained with a not
completely dried 1,2-difluorobenzene causing part of 2 to hy-
drolyze by traces of water to give 6. The additional free pair
of electrons at the carbon atom of 2 is basic enough to attract a
proton, which weakens the C–C bond. Subsequent nucleophilic
attack of OH– at the CO2 carbon atom finally leads to splitting
3.2 Molecular Structure of (HC{PPh3}2)(HCO3)·H2O
(6·H2O)
The molecular structure of 6·H2O is depicted in Figure 2.
The unit cell of the salt contains a centrosymmetric dimer of
–
6·H2O. Two HCO3 anions are linked by O–H···O bridges
forming a planar eight-membered ring. As expected three dif-
ferent C–O bond lengths are found in the dimeric anion. The
unbridged C–O bond lengths amounts to 1.233(3) Å and is
about 0.12 Å shorter than the C–O–H bond and about 0.04 Å
shorter than the C–O····H bond. No contacts to the cation exist
and its parameters are close to those of the cation of 5. The
bridged oxygen atoms are separated by 2.664(2) Å. Further
OH bridges exist to water molecules with O···O separations of
2.904(2) and 2.896(2) Å. A similar dimeric structure was
2–
found in the salt (C{NMe2}3)(HCO3). The related (HCO3)2
unit has no further contacts and the corresponding bridged C–
O bond lengths are about 0.01 Å shorter than those in 6·H2O
[17]
Scheme 2. Proposed mechanism of the hydrolysis of 2.
.
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© 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
Z. Anorg. Allg. Chem. 2012, 987–991