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The silicon(II) iodide 2-I is a very promising starting
material for the preparation of cationic SiII complexes, since it
bears two iodide groups, which are good leaving groups and
should be easily displaced from silicon. In fact, addition of
1,3,4,5-tetramethyl-imidazol-2-ylidene (IMe4; 2.4 equiv) to
a solution of 2-I in fluorobenzene rapidly afforded, after
replacement of both iodide groups and the Idipp ligand, the
iodide salt of the dicationic SiII complex [Si(IMe4)]2+ (32+),
which immediately precipitated out of the reaction solution,
and was isolated as a light yellow powder in 79% yield
(Scheme 1). Complex salt 3 is only soluble in CH2Cl2, in which
it slowly decomposes after several hours at ambient temper-
ature. No evidence was found for any intermediates in the
reaction of 2-I with IMe4. This suggests that the first step,
which probably involves a Iꢀ/IMe4 exchange to give the
putative intermediate [SiI(IMe4)(Idipp)]I, is rate determining
in the overall reaction sequence ultimately leading to 3.[37]
The crystal structure of 3·2CD2Cl2 shows well separated
32+ ions and iodide counter anions, the closest Si···I contact
(5.88 ꢀ) being much longer than the sum of the van der Waals
radii of silicon and iodine (4.08 ꢀ).[14] The dication 32+ has an
almost C3 symmetric, propeller-like, pyramidal structure
(Figure 3), which resembles that of the Ge dication
[Ge(IiPr2Me2)3]2+.[3a] The degree of pyramidalization of 32+
(DP = 53%, sum of angles at Si = 3128) is lower than those of
[SiI(IiPr2Me2)(Idipp)]+ (4+) (DP = 65%, sum of angles at Si =
301.48; Figure 4) and 2-I (DP = 70%) and can be rationalized
with Bentꢁs rule, according to which silicon uses hybrid
orbitals of higher s character for bonding to the less electro-
negative NHC substituents in 32+ and 4+.[25] The double
positive charge of 32+ is strongly delocalized over the IMe4
groups, which suggests a strong contribution of the zwitter-
ionic canonical formula depicted in Scheme 2 to the bonding
in 32+.
Figure 4. DIAMOND plot of the molecular structure of the cation of
4·C6H5F in the solid state. Ellipsoids are set at 30% probability; the
2,6-bonded isopropyl substituents of the Idipp ligand, the solvent
molecule and the hydrogen atoms, except that (H36) involved in the
anagostic interaction with the silicon center, are omitted for clarity; the
anagostic interaction is visualized by a dashed line. Selected bond
lengths [ꢂ] and angles [8]: Si–I1 2.5591(6), Si–C1 1.947(2), C1–N1
1.358(3), C1–N2 1.374(3), N1–C2 1.386(3), N2–C3 1.377(3), C2–C3
1.341(3), Si–C28 1.967(2), C28–N3 1.362(3), C28–N4, 1.357(3), N3–
C29 1.384(3), N4–C30 1.389(3), C29–C30 1.357(3), N3–C36 1.489(3);
C1-Si-I1 103.49(6), C28-Si-I1 98.57(7), C1-Si-C28 99.32(9), N1-C1-N2
104.2(2), N3-C28-N4 105.8(2).
Evidence for this is provided by both the structural and
2+
spectroscopic features of 3 . Thus, the Si CNHC bonds of 32+
ꢀ
(1.915(3) ꢀ)[15] are even shorter than that of [SiCl(C6H3-2,6-
Trip2)(IMe4)] (1.963(2) ꢀ)[11a] and [Cp(CO)2Mo Si(C6H3-2,6-
=
Trip2)(IMe4)] (1.944(1) ꢀ),[12a] and approximate the Si Caryl
ꢀ
single bonds of [SiCl(C6H3-2,6-Trip2)(IMe4)] (1.937(2) ꢀ)[11a]
[12a]
=
and [Cp(CO)2Mo Si(C6H3-2,6-Trip2)(IMe4)] (1.920(2) ꢀ).
The 29Si{1H} NMR spectrum of 3 in CD2Cl2 shows
a strongly shielded 29Si NMR signal (d = ꢀ89.9 ppm), which
appears at considerably higher field than those of 2-I (d =
ꢀ9.7 ppm) and 4 (d = ꢀ55.3 ppm). The 13C{1H} NMR spec-
trum displays a distinctive signal for the Si-bonded CNHC atom
at d = 150.7 ppm, which is shifted considerably high-field
versus that of IMe4 (d = 212.7 ppm),[38] but appears at
a position close to that of the imidazolium salt (IMe4H)Cl
(d = 136.9 ppm).[11a] Finally, the 1H and 13C{1H} NMR spectra
of 3 display a single set of resonances, as expected for three
ꢀ
equivalent IMe4 groups rotating rapidly about the Si C bonds
on the NMR time scale.
Whereas reaction of 2-I with IMe4 directly afforded the
complex salt 3, addition of the sterically more demanding
N-heterocyclic carbene 1,3-Diisopropyl-4,5-dimethylimida-
zol-2-ylidene (IiPr2Me2) to a toluene solution of 2-I at
ambient temperature gave, after displacement of only one
iodide group, the SiII complex salt [SiI(IiPr2Me2)(Idipp)]I (4)
[Eq. (1)]. No further reaction of 4 with IiPr2Me2 was
observed, even at higher temperature (fluorobenzene,
608C). Compound 4 was isolated as a yellow, crystalline
Figure 3. DIAMOND plot of the molecular structure of the cation of
3·2(CD2Cl2) in the solid state. Ellipsoids are set at 30% probability;
hydrogen atoms and solvent molecules are omitted for clarity. The
smaller figure depicts the same structure in a side view that shows the
strong pyramidalization of silicon. Selected bond lengths [ꢂ] and
angles [8] (corresponding bond lengths and angles of the other two
NHC groups are included in squared brackets): Si–C1 1.918(3), Si–C8
1.909(3), Si–C15 1.917(3), C1–N1 1.359(3) [1.356(3), 1.355(3)], C1–N2
1.357(3) [1.352(3), 1.360(3)], N1–C2 1.389(3) [1.384(3), 1.386(3)], N2–
C3 1.402(3) [1.388(3), 1.385(3)], C2–C3 1.354(4) [1.360(4), 1.359(4)];
C1-Si-C8 103.9(1), C1-Si-C15 104.7(1), C8-Si-C15 103.4(1), N1-C1-N2
105.1(2) [104.8(2), 104.8(2)].
ꢀ 2013 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 6974 –6978