.
Angewandte
Communications
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Electron-sharing bonds C Si are stronger and shorter
than donor–acceptor bonds C!Si, which rationalizes why the
lower in energy than the triplet. A similar result was obtained
when the PBE0 functional was employed. Here the triplet
state was calculated with the SVP basis set to be 4.5 kcalmolꢀ1
lower in energy than the closed-shell singlet state (4.1 kcal
molꢀ1 with the larger TZVPP basis set) and the singlet
biradical state is 3.1 kcalmolꢀ1 more stable than the triplet
state (3.2 kcalmolꢀ1 with the larger TZVPP basis set). The
optimized geometries at the latter DFT level deviate only
slightly from the M05-2X results. The coordinates of the
optimized structures are given in the Supporting Information.
Finally, we optimized the geometry of 2 in the singlet state
at the CASSCF(2,2)/SVP level. The optimized wave function
showed that the compound is an open-shell singlet species.
The coefficients for the three singlet components are 0.80 (2/
0), ꢀ0.60 (1/1), 0.0 (0.2). The conclusion of the calculations is
that compound 2 is a biradical, in which the species with two
unpaired electrons with opposite spin (closed-shell singlet
state) is slightly lower in energy than the triplet state.
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C Si bonds in 2 are significantly shorter than in 1. The driving
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force for the formation of the C Si electron-sharing bonds in
2, which requires the formal excitation of the fragments SiCl2
and L1 from the singlet state to the excited triplet state, is the
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much higher energy of the C Si bond (113.6 kcalmol per
bond) compared with the C!Si donor–acceptor bond in
L1DSiCl2 (42.5 kcalmolꢀ1) [Equations (1)–(3)].
2 ðTÞ ! SiCl2 ðTÞ þ 2 L1D ðTÞ
L1DSiCl2 ðSÞ ! SiCl2 ðSÞ þ L1D ðSÞ
2 ðTÞ ! SiCl2 ðSÞ þ 2 L1D ðSÞ
þ 227:2 kcal molꢀ1
þ 42:5 kcal molꢀ1
þ 67:3 kcal molꢀ1
ð1Þ
ð2Þ
ð3Þ
The calculated bond-dissociation energy (BDE) of 2
(227.2 kcalmolꢀ1) is sufficiently high to compensate for the
singlet–triplet excitation energies of SiCl2 (60.1 kcalmolꢀ1)
and 2L1D (2 ꢁ 49.9 kcalmolꢀ1). The net energy gain of
67.3 kcalmolꢀ1 exceeds the BDE of L1DSiCl2 (42.5 kcalmolꢀ1),
which means that 2 is thermodynamically stable toward
formation of the former singlet complex. In contrast, the
ligand LD has two nitrogen-donor atoms attached to the
carbene center (Scheme 1, Figure 3), thus resulting in a much
higher singlet–triplet gap (88.9 kcalmolꢀ1) than in L1D. This
explains why a triplet state (LD)2SiCl2 is not formed.
While the calculations show that the triplet state of 2 is
lower in energy than the closed-shell singlet state, they do not
preclude that a biradical with two electrons having opposite
spin may even be more stable than the triplet species, which
has two electrons with the same spin. The bonding model with
two electron-sharing bonds shown in Figure 3b would still be
valid, but the unpaired electrons at the ligands would have
opposite spins. The experimental findings suggest that the
reaction leads to two biradical species of 2, and that the main
component is a singlet biradical, while the minor component
is an unpaired biradical. Note that the spin density of the
triplet state (Figure 2) shows that the unpaired electrons are
located at the different L1D ligands. Therefore, we carried out
further extensive calculations, which support the experimen-
tal findings.
First, we optimized the broken-symmetry singlet biradical
state of 2 at the UM05-2X/SVP level using Gaussian09,[31] and
found that the singlet state is 2.6 kcalmolꢀ1 lower in energy
than the triplet (3.2 kcalmolꢀ1 in single-point energy calcu-
lations using the TZVPP basis set). Note that the dissociation
of the singlet biradical form of 2 into the singlet fragments is
endoenergetic by 70.5 kcalmolꢀ1. The optimized geometry of
the singlet biradical is only slightly different from the
geometry of the triplet (see the Supporting Information).
We also used different functionals in order to check if the
results are an artefact of the theoretical level. Geometry
optimizations of 2 at the B3LYP/SVP level predict that the
triplet state is 2.6 kcalmolꢀ1 (2.0 kcalmolꢀ1 with the larger
TZVPP basis set) lower in energy than the closed-shell
singlet. Further calculations of the biradical singlet state using
the spin-flip procedure in Turbomole gave a structure that is
3.3 kcalmolꢀ1 (3.5 kcalmolꢀ1 with the larger TZVPP basis set)
In conclusion, we have for the first time chemically
converted an NHC-based singlet silylene with a cyclic alkyl-
(amino)carbene to a stable biradical 2, and substituted NHC 3
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under C H bond activation and C C bond formation at room
temperature. Compound 2 can be obtained in two poly-
morphic forms (I and II) which were investigated by magnetic
susceptibility measurements and EPR spectroscopy. The
magnetic susceptibility measurements confirm the diamag-
netic closed-shell electronic configuration of polymorph II of
2 with a very small amount (0.45%) of polymorph I as
paramagnetic contribution. Magnetic susceptibility showed
that compound 2 can be enriched with 16.4% of polymorph I,
which is weakly coupled unpaired biradicals and thus shows
an EPR resonance.
Moreover, quantum chemical calculations of the L1D2SiCl2
molecule of polymorph I suggest that in 2 electron-sharing
bonds rather than conventional donor–acceptor C!Si bonds
are present between the carbon atoms of the carbene and the
silicon atom. Polymorph I is an unpaired biradical. Further
theoretical calculations at different levels showed that close-
shell singlet biradical L1D2SiCl2 (2) is the most stable species
(polymorph II). Compound 2 features an unprecedented
bonding situation that has so far not been reported between
a carbene and an acceptor. The bonding model may be used to
design further biradical species LxD2EX2. Additionally the easy
access, high yield, and relative high stability may lead to broad
utilization of this biradical.
Experimental Section
Synthesis of polymorph II of 2: A 50 mL round-bottom flask was
charged with a mixture of L1D (6 mmol) and LDSiCl2 (1, 2 mmol) in
a molar ratio of 3:1. After addition of THF (10 mL) at room
temperature to the colorless mixture, an immediate color change to
dark blue was observed. Stirring was continued for two to five
minutes and microcrystalline blue-black crystals of polymorph II of 2
were formed. Dark-blue-black blocks of 2 (91% yield) were grown
from the filtrate after storing the solution for one week in a freezer.
13C NMR: d = 210.0 ppm (carbene carbon atom, see the Supporting
Information); 29Si NMR: d = 4.13 ppm; melting point 179–1818C,
decomposition point 185–1868C, UV: lab = 569 nm.
ꢀ 2013 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 1801 –1805