One-electron transformations of paramagnetic cobalt complexes. Synthesis and structure of cobalt(II) amidodiphosphine halide and alkyl complexes and their reaction with alkyl halides

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/ja9721632

Complexes of the type CoX[N(SiMe₂CH₂PPh₂)₂], where X = Cl, Br, or I, can be prepared via reaction of CoX₂ with LiN(SiMe₂CH₂PPh₂)₂; these derivatives are tetrahedral high-spin d⁷ systems. Reaction of these halide complexes with organolithium, sodium, or potassium reagents generates square- planar, low-spin hydrocarbyl complexes of the formula CoR[N(SiMe₂CH₂PPh₂)₂] (R = Me, CH₂Ph, CH₂SiMe₃, C₅H₅). One-electron oxidations have been carried out; only the product of halide abstraction is observed. For example, addition of PhCH₂X to the halide derivatives CoX[N(SiMe₂CH₂PPh₂)₂] generates trivalent, paramagnetic complexes, CoX₂[N(SiMe₂CH₂PPh₂)₂]; these derivatives show variable-temperature magnetic susceptibility data that are consistent with zero-field splitting of the S = 1 state. Addition of methyl bromide or methyl iodide to low-spin CoMe[N(SiMe₂CH₂PPh₂)₂] results in the formation of the Co(II) halide derivatives CoX-[N(SiMe₂CH₂PPh₂)₂] along with methane and bibenzyl. It is proposed that the Co(III) methyl halide complex CoMe(X)[N(SiMe₂CH₂PPh₂)₂] is unstable and loses methyl radical homolytically to generate the Co(II) halide derivative; the methyl subsequently reacts with the toluene solvent to produce methane and bibenzyl. Addition of excess benzyl halides has also been found to generate the Co(II) halide complexes initially, followed by a one- electron oxidation to the Co(III) dihalide derivatives. In much of the one- electron chemistry of the Co(II) derivatives incorporating the amidodiphosphine ligand, the decomposition of the putative but unstable Co(III) alkyl halide derivative CoRX[N(SiMe₂CH₂PPh₂)₂] is proposed as a recurring event.

Full text of DOI:10.1021/ja9721632

10126
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1998, 120, 10126-10135
One-Electron Transformations of Paramagnetic Cobalt Complexes.
Synthesis and Structure of Cobalt(II) Amidodiphosphine Halide and
Alkyl Complexes and Their Reaction with Alkyl Halides
Michael D. Fryzuk,* Daniel B. Leznoff, Robert C. Thompson, and Steven J. Rettig‡
Contribution from the Department of Chemistry, UniVersity of British Columbia, 2036 Main Mall,
VancouVer, B.C., Canada V6T 1Z1
ReceiVed June 30, 1997
Abstract: Complexes of the type CoX[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2], where X ) Cl, Br, or I, can be prepared via
reaction of CoX2 with LiN(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2; these derivatives are tetrahedral high-spin d7 systems. Reaction
of these halide complexes with organolithium, sodium, or potassium reagents generates square-planar, low-
spin hydrocarbyl complexes of the formula CoR[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (R ) Me, CH2Ph, CH2SiMe3, C5H5).
One-electron oxidations have been carried out; only the product of halide abstraction is observed. For example,
addition of PhCH2X to the halide derivatives CoX[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] generates trivalent, paramagnetic
complexes, CoX2[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2]; these derivatives show variable-temperature magnetic susceptibility
data that are consistent with zero-field splitting of the S ) 1 state. Addition of methyl bromide or methyl
iodide to low-spin CoMe[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] results in the formation of the Co(II) halide derivatives CoX-
[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] along with methane and bibenzyl. It is proposed that the Co(III) methyl halide complex
CoMe(X)[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] is unstable and loses methyl radical homolytically to generate the Co(II) halide
derivative; the methyl subsequently reacts with the toluene solvent to produce methane and bibenzyl. Addition
of excess benzyl halides has also been found to generate the Co(II) halide complexes initially, followed by a
one-electron oxidation to the Co(III) dihalide derivatives. In much of the one-electron chemistry of the Co(II)
derivatives incorporating the amidodiphosphine ligand, the decomposition of the putative but unstable Co(III)
alkyl halide derivative CoRX[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] is proposed as a recurring event.
Introduction
metal complexes provide a unifying theme to all of the above
areas is not accidental; metal complexes with unpaired electrons
are part of the fabric of coordination chemistry and are now
becoming more prevalent in organometallic chemistry.
Electron transfer and radical processes figure prominently in
many different areas of chemistry.1-5 In organic chemistry,
convenient and versatile sources of alkyl radicals are in demand
to initiate a wide variety of reactions.6,7 Polymerization with
free radicals is arguably one of the most important industrial
processes for high molecular weight polymers.6 In transition
metal chemistry, the discovery that the active site of vitamin
B12 contains a readily homolyzable Co(III)-carbon bond8,9 has
fueled research into the preparation and reactivity of cobalt
complexes,10-16 particularly those species that can mimic
coenzyme bioinorganic functions. That paramagnetic transition
The reaction of alkyl halides with paramagnetic metal
complexes has been the focus of numerous studies. Not only
do these processes have relevance to radical-based organic
transformations but they are probably one of the most common
methods for the synthesis of vitamin B12 models, although other
reagent types, including direct addition of in situ generated
radicals to Co(II) systems,17 have been described. Although
most free radical polymerizations do not involve metal com-
plexes, there is the recent discovery that living radical poly-
merizations can be achieved in the presence of Cu(II) deriva-
tives. With regard to cobalt complexes, both one- and two-
electron processes involving alkyl halides have been reported;18-20
for example, the two-electron oxidative addition of alkyl halides
to Co(I) derivatives (eq 1) is a classic route to Co(III) species:
‡ Professional Officer: UBC X-ray Structural Laboratory.
(1) Fossey, J.; Lefort, D.; Sorba, J. Free Radicals in Organic Chemistry;
John Wiley & Sons: New York, 1995.
(2) Eberson, L. Electron-Transfer Reactions in Organic Chemistry;
Springer-Verlag: Berlin, 1987.
(3) Electron Transfer in Inorganic, Organic, and Biological Systems;
Bolton, J. R., Mataga, N., McLendon, G. L., Eds.; American Chemical
Society: Washington, DC, 1991; Vol. 228.
21,22
Of particular significance is the addition of alkyl halides
(4) Organometallic Radical Processes; Trogler, W. C., Ed.; Elsevier:
New York, 1990.
(5) Macromol. Symp. 1987, 10-11.
(6) Matyjaszewski, K.; Patten, T. E.; Xia, J. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1997,
119, 674.
(7) Curran, D. P. Synthesis 1988, 417.
(8) B12; Dolphin, D., Ed.; John Wiley & Sons: New York, 1982; Vols.
1 and 2.
(13) Brown, T. M.; Cooksey, C. J.; Crich, D.; Dronsfield, A. T.; Ellis,
R. J. Chem. Soc., Perkin Trans.1 1993, 2131.
(14) Patel, V. F.; Pattenden, G.; Thompson, D. M. J. Chem. Soc., Perkin
Trans.1 1990, 2729.
(15) Branchaud, B. P.; Choi, Y. L. J. Org. Chem. 1988, 53, 4638.
(16) Baldwin, J. E.; Li, C.-S. J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun. 1987, 166.
(17) Gridnev, A. A.; Ittel, S. D.; Fryd, M.; Wayland, B. B. Organome-
tallics 1993, 12, 4871.
(9) Toscano, P. J.; Marzilli, L. G. Prog. Inorg. Chem. 1984, 31, 105.
(10) Pattenden, G. Chem. Soc. ReV. 1988, 17, 361.
(11) Johnson, M. D. Acc. Chem. Res. 1983, 16, 343.
(12) Scheffold, R.; Rytz, G.; Walder, L. In Modern Synthetic Methods;
Scheffold, R., Ed.; Wiley: Chichester, 1983; Vol. 3; p 355.
(18) Zhou, D.-L.; Walder, P.; Scheffold, R.; Walder, L. HelV. Chim. Acta
1992, 75, 995.
(19) Witman, M. W.; Weber, J. H. Inorg. Chim. Acta 1977, 23, 263.
(20) Dodd, D.; Johnson, M. D. J. Organomet. Chem. 1973, 52, 1.
(21) Coleman, W. M.; Taylor, L. T. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1971, 93, 5446.
S0002-7863(97)02163-X CCC: $15.00 © 1998 American Chemical Society
Published on Web 09/17/1998

One-Electron Transformations of Paramagnetic Co Complexes
J. Am. Chem. Soc., Vol. 120, No. 39, 1998 10127
(1)
Scheme 1
to Co(II) complexes to give Co(III) halide and Co(III) alkyl
complexes in a series of two, one-electron redox, radical-based
bimolecular reactions;23 as indicated in Scheme 1, the stoichi-
ometry involves 1 equiv of the Co(II) starting material reacting
with 0.5 equiv of the alkyl halide.
consistent with a high-spin tetrahedral Co(II) complex with some
second-order orbital angular momentum contribution to the
moment (spin-only d7 is 3.89 µB).35 The dark, intense blue color
is also consistent with most high-spin tetrahedral Co(II)
complexes;36-38 the visible spectrum of 1 shows three bands at
506, 602, and 786 nm which shift to 518, 616, and 792 nm for
the bromide 2. An X-ray crystal structure of the iodide complex
CoI[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (preparation is discussed later) was
determined (see Supporting Information) and reveals a distorted
tetrahedral geometry as expected. Variable-temperature mag-
netic susceptibility measurements from 4.2 to 80 K have also
been carried out (see Supporting Information) and show a large
D of 20 ( 1 cm-1 for the zero-field splitting of the ground S )
3/2 state (d,7 Co(II)).
The chloride derivative 1 is a convenient starting material
for the synthesis of a variety of Co(II) alkyl compounds.
Reaction of 1 with organolithium, sodium, or potassium reagents
in THF or toluene forms the desired CoR[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2]
complexes in moderate to high yield by salt metathesis.
Specifically, reaction of 1 with MeLi, PhCH2K, LiCH2SiMe3,
and NaC5H5‚DME yields the expected Co(II) alkyl complexes
(4-7), as shown in eq 3. The Co(II) alkyls produced are all
yellow-orange compounds, in stark contrast to the intense blue
precursor 1.
Generally, the Co(II) systems studied have been low-spin,
rigidly square planar systems (porphyrins, salen-type ligands)
as these compounds are considered suitable models for the corrin
framework in Vitamin B12,24,25 although the addition of RX to
Co(CN)53- shows that this reaction can be generalized beyond
traditional planar tetradentate ligand-type complexes.26-28 De-
spite this last example, however, studies involving alkyl halide
addition reactions to non-chelating or non-macrocyclic Co(II)
systems are not common. In one case, addition of alkyl halides
to cobaltocene has been reported.29-32 Other than this, one-
electron oxidation reactions of alkyl halides with a high-spin
Co(II) species or with an isolable Co(II) compound that contains
a cobalt-carbon σ-bond would appear to be unknown.33 We
have prepared high- and low-spin cobalt(II) complexes and here
report their reaction with alkyl halides, the structure of the
resulting five-coordinate cobalt(III) complexes, and their utility
for alkyl radical generation.
Results and Discussion
Synthesis and Structure of CoR[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (R
) alkyl) Complexes. Addition of 1 equiv of LiN(SiMe2CH2-
PPh2)2 to a THF suspension of CoX2 (X ) Cl, Br) results in
the rapid formation of a dark blue solution from which blue
crystals of CoX[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (X ) Cl, 1; X ) Br, 2)
can be isolated in high yield (eq 2).
(3)
(2)
Solution magnetic moment measurements (Evans method)34
showed a value of µeff ) 4.2 ( 0.1 µB for the halide derivatives,
The color change is an indication of the geometry and spin-
state change that occurs upon halide for alkyl metathesis. The
solution room-temperature magnetic moments for the Co(II)
alkyls range from 1.9 to 2.2 µB, consistent with a low-spin d7
center (one unpaired electron) with some second-order spin-
orbit coupling.35 This confirms that a geometry change from
tetrahedral to square planar has occurred. It should be noted
that the geometry of the cyclopentadienyl complex 7 is in fact
unknown and could either have a distorted pseudotetrahedral
structure with the cyclopentadienyl η5 or a square planar
geometry with an η1 Cp group; nevertheless, a magnetic moment
of 1.9 µB for 7 is indicative of a spin state change to low spin.
The X-ray crystal structure of Co(CH2Ph)[N(SiMe2CH2-
PPh2)2] (5) is shown in Figure 1. Crystal data are collected in
Table 1 and selected bond lengths and angles in Tables 2 and
3. The structural analysis confirms that cobalt benzyl 5 is
(22) Farmery, K.; Busch, D. H. Inorg. Chem. 1972, 11, 2901.
(23) Tyler, D. R. Prog. Inorg. Chem. 1988, 36, 125.
(24) Schneider, P. W.; Phelan, P. F.; Halpern, J. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1969,
91, 77.
(25) Blaser, H.-U.; Halpern, J. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1980, 102, 1684.
(26) Chock, P. B.; Halpern, J. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1969, 91, 582.
(27) Halpern, J.; Maher, J. P. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1964, 86, 2311.
(28) Halpern, J.; Maher, J. P. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1965, 87, 5361.
(29) Herberich, G. E.; Bauer, E.; Schwarzer, J. J. Organomet. Chem.
1969, 17, 445.
(30) Herberich, G. E.; Bauer, E. J. Organomet. Chem. 1969, 16, 301.
(31) Herberich, G. E.; Schwarzer, J. J. Organomet. Chem. 1972, 34, C43.
(32) Herberich, G. E.; Carstensen, T.; Klein, W.; Schmidt, M. U.
Organometallics 1993, 12, 1439.
(33) Reduction of RCo(III) complexes to Co(I) species, followed by
reaction with RX to yield R2Co(III) systems, could proceed through in situ
RCo(II) intermediates. See: Murakami, Y.; Hisaeda, Y.; Fan, S.-D.;
Matsuda, Y. Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn. 1989, 62, 2219. Elliott, C. M.;
Hershenhart, E.; Finke, R. G.; Smith, B. L. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1981, 103,
5558. Finke, R. G.; Smith, B. L.; Droege, M. W.; Elliott, C. M.; Hershenhart,
E. J. Organomet. Chem. 1980, 202, C25. Costa, G.; Mestroni, G.; Cocevar,
C. J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun. 1971, 706. Costa, G.; Puxeddu, A.;
Reisenhofer, E. J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun. 1971, 993. Coleman, W.
M.; Taylor, L. T. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1971, 93, 5446.
(35) Carlin, R. L. Magnetochemistry; Springer-Verlag: Heidelberg, 1986.
(36) Cotton, F. A.; Faut, O. D.; Goodgame, D. M. L.; Holm, R. H. J.
Am. Chem. Soc. 1961, 83, 1780.
(37) Cotton, F. A.; Wilkinson, G. AdVanced Inorganic Chemistry; 5th
ed.; John Wiley & Sons: New York, 1988.
(38) Horrocks, W. D.; Hecke, G. R. V.; Hall, D. D. Inorg. Chem. 1967,
6, 694.
(34) Sur, S. K. J. Magn. Reson. 1989, 82, 169.

10128 J. Am. Chem. Soc., Vol. 120, No. 39, 1998
Fryzuk et al.
Table 1. Crystallographic Data
5a
10‚0.5C7H8
a
compd
formula
fw
C37H43CoNP2Si2
678.81
C33.5H40Br2CoNP2Si2
793.55
color, habit
crystal size, mm
crystal system
space group
a, Å
b, Å
c, Å
red, prism
red, irregular
0.15 × 0.33 × 0.40 0.20 × 0.35 × 0.50
triclinic
P1h (No. 2)
10.6832(9)
16.877(1)
10.134(1)
97.830(8)
93.810(8)
87.058(6)
1804.5(3)
2
triclinic
P1h (No. 2)
11.759(2)
16.052(2)
9.853(2)
91.20(1)
98.43(1)
97.59(1)
1822.0(4)
2
R, deg
â, deg
γ, deg
V, Å3
Z
T, °C
21
1.249
714
21
1.446
806
F
calc, g/cm3
F(000)
radiation
Mo
6.51
0.93-1.00
ω-2θ
Cu
78.97
0.56-1.00
ω-2θ
µ, cm-1
transmission factors
scan type
scan range, deg in ω
scan speed, deg/min
data collected
2θmax, deg
crystal decay, %
total no. of reflns
no. of unique reflns
Rmerge
1.00 + 0.35 tan θ
16 (up to 9 scans)
+h, (k, (l
60
3.6
11036
10504
0.034
4763
389
0.94 + 0.20 tan θ
16 (up to 9 scans)
+h, (k, (l
120
negligible
5475
5221
0.056
3527
389
Figure 1. Molecular structure and numbering scheme for Co(CH2-
Ph)[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (5); 33% probability thermal ellipsoids are
shown.
monomeric and square planar. There is some distortion from
planarity in benzyl 5 as the two trans angles, P(1)-Co-P(2)
and N-Co-C(31), are 162.93(3)° and 173.6(1)° (180° is ideal).
no. with I g nσ(I)
no. of variables
Rc
0.035
0.039
Other structurally characterized compounds39 with Co(II)-C
bonds include the cobalt(II) aryl complexes Co(PEt2Ph)2-
(mesityl)240-42 and bis(µ-mesityl)dimesityldicobalt(II),43 which
are low-spin square planar and high-spin trigonal, respectively,
with Co-C(sp2) distances of 1.994(3) and 1.988(7) Å. A series
of bulky cobalt alkyls stabilized by TMEDA have also been
recently reported;44 these are high-spin and tetrahedral, with
Co-C distances ranging from 2.025(7) to 2.151(8) Å. In
comparison, the Co-C bond length of 2.009 Å in 5 is shorter
than that in the high-spin alkyls but not as short as for the low-
spin, but stronger, aryl bond; this is rationalized by the smaller
size of a low-spin Co(II) center vs the high-spin case. Similarly,
the Co-P bond length is sensitive to spin state, as has been
observed with other metal-phosphine systems.45,46 A typical
high-spin Co(II)-P bond length is 2.373(3) Å in 3 and 2.384(1)
Å in Co(PPh3)2X2.47 Low-spin Co(II)-P bond lengths are
substantially shorter, as observed in Co(PEt2Ph)2(mesityl)2
(2.232(4) Å)41,42 and herein for Co(CH2Ph)[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2]
(5) (2.2127(8) and 2.2162(8) Å).
Rw
0.030
1.66
0.001
0.042
0.91
0.005
-0.43, 0.47
gofc
max ∆/σ
residual density, e/Å3 -0.25, 0.28
a Rigaku AFC6S diffractometer, takeoff angle 6.0°, aperture 6.0 ×
6.0 mm at a distance of 285 mm from the crystal, stationary background
counts at each end of the scan (scan/background time ratio 2:1), Cu
KR (λ ) 1.54178 Å) or Mo KR radiation (λ ) 0.71069 Å), graphite
monochromator, σ2(F2) ) [S2(C + 4B)]/Lp2 (S ) scan speed, C )
scan count, B ) normalized background count), function minimized
∑w(|Fo| -|Fc|)2, where w ) 1 for 10 and w ) 4Fo /σ2(Fo ) for 5, R )
2
2
∑||Fo| - |Fc||/∑|Fo|, Rw ) (∑w(|Fo| -|Fc|)2/∑w|Fo| )1/2, and gof )
2
[∑w(|Fo| -|Fc|)2/(m-n)]1/2. Values given for R, Rw, and gof are based
on those reflections with I g 3σ(I).
1.924(13) Å in Co[N(SiMe3)2]2PPh3.49 In 5 the Co-N distance
of 1.982(2) Å is longer than that observed for any other
examples of cobalt(II) silylamide complexes. In addition the
Si-N bond lengths of 1.702(2) and 1.707(2) Å in 5 are generally
shorter than those found in other examples, for which a range
of 1.710-1.785 Å is observed.
It is interesting to compare cobalt benzyl 5 to the chromium
analogue, Cr(CH2Ph)[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2], which contains the
exact same ligand set and overall geometry.45 The most striking
difference is that the electron-deficient chromium complex (12-
electron system) binds the benzyl group in an η2-fashion. On
the other hand, in the more electron-rich 15-electron cobalt
system the benzyl group is η1-bound, as evidenced by the Co-
C(31)-C(32) bond angle of 100.1(2)°.
Despite the fact that the cobalt(II) alkyl complexes are
paramagnetic, 1H NMR spectra can be observed.50 As an
example, the 1H NMR spectrum of CoMe[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2]
(4) has five peaks present; the Co-CH3 peak is not observed.
The assignments are based on integration (60 °C spectrum,
The known Co(II) silylamide complexes are all high-spin
complexes and have Co-N bond lengths ranging from 1.898(3)
and 1.904(3) Å (i.e., Co[N(SiMePh2)2]2)48 to 1.931(14) and
(39) Allen, F. H.; Kennard, O.; Taylor, R. Acc. Chem. Res. 1983, 16,
146.
(40) Chatt, J.; Shaw, B. L. J. Chem. Soc. 1961, 285.
(41) Falvello, L.; Gerloch, M. Acta Crystallogr. B 1979, B35, 2547.
(42) Owston, P. G.; Rowe, J. M. J. Chem. Soc. 1963, 3411.
(43) Theopold, K. H.; Silverstre, J.; Byrne, E. K.; Richeson, D. S.
Organometallics 1989, 8, 2001.
(44) Hay-Motherwell, R. S.; Wilkinson, G.; Hussain, B.; Hursthouse,
M. B. Polyhedron 1990, 9, 931.
(45) Fryzuk, M. D.; Leznoff, D. B.; Rettig, S. J. Organometallics 1995,
14, 5193.
(46) Hermes, A. R.; Morris, R. J.; Girolami, G. S. Organometallics 1988,
7, 2372.
(47) Carlin, R. L.; Chirico, R. D.; Sinn, E.; Mennenga, G.; Jongh, L. J.
d. Inorg. Chem. 1982, 21, 2218.
(49) Bradley, D. C.; Hursthouse, M. B.; Smallwood, R. J.; Welch, A. J.
J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun. 1973, 872.
(50) Lamar, G. N.; Horrocks, W. D.; Holm, R. H. NMR of Paramagnetic
Molecules; Academic Press: New York, 1973.
(48) Bartlett, R. A.; Power, P. P. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1987, 109, 7563.

One-Electron Transformations of Paramagnetic Co Complexes
J. Am. Chem. Soc., Vol. 120, No. 39, 1998 10129
Table 2. Selected Bond Lengths (Å) for the Complexes
Co(CH2Ph)[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (5) and CoBr2[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2]
(10)
Scheme 2
Co(CH2Ph)[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (5)
Co(1)-P(1)
Co(1)-N(1)
P(1)-C(1)
P(1)-C(13)
P(2)-C(19)
Si(1)-N(1)
Si(1)-C(3)
Si(2)-N(1)
Si(2)-C(5)
C(31)-C(32)
2.2127(8)
1.982(2)
1.808(3)
1.830(3)
1.827(3)
1.707(2)
1.872(3)
1.702(2)
1.877(3)
1.480(4)
Co(1)-P(2)
Co(1)-C(31)
P(1)-C(7)
P(2)-C(2)
P(2)-C(25)
Si(1)-C(1)
Si(1)-C(4)
Si(2)-C(2)
Si(2)-C(6)
2.2162(8)
2.009(3)
1.822(3)
1.819(3)
1.830(3)
1.895(3)
1.862(4)
1.890(3)
1.870(3)
CoCl2[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (10)
Co(1)-Br(1)
Co(1)-P(1)
Co(1)-N(1)
P(1)-C(7)
P(2)-C(2)
P(2)-C(25)
Si(1)-C(1)
Si(1)-C(4)
Si(2)-C(2)
Si(2)-C(6)
2.375(1)
2.264(2)
1.926(5)
1.814(6)
1.792(7)
1.820(6)
1.888(7)
1.864(8)
1.888(6)
1.863(8)
Co(1)-Br(2)
Co(1)-P(2)
P(1)-C(1)
P(1)-C(13)
P(2)-C(19)
Si(1)-N(1)
Si(1)-C(3)
Si(2)-N(1)
Si(2)-C(5)
2.378(1)
2.282(2)
1.798(6)
1.810(6)
1.827(6)
1.734(5)
1.862(8)
1.721(5)
1.852(8)
Table 3. Selected Bond Angles (deg) for the Complexes
Co(CH2Ph)[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (5) and CoBr2[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2]
(10)
Co(CH2Ph)[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (5)
P(1)-Co(1)-P(2)
P(1)-Co(1)-C(31)
P(2)-Co(1)-C(31)
Co(1)-P(1)-C(1)
162.93(3) P(1)-Co(1)-N(1)
82.83(6)
86.98(6)
95.55(9) P(2)-Co(1)-N(1)
96.01(9) N(1)-Co(1)-C(31) 173.6(1)
106.94(9) Co(1)-P(1)-C(7)
108.10(9)
106.2(1)
101.6(1)
117.0(1)
104.3(1)
104.1(1)
114.4(1)
108.6(1)
107.8(2)
113.8(1)
108.2(1)
106.8(1)
118.5(1)
Co(1)-P(1)-C(13) 124.89(9) C(1)-P(1)-C(7)
C(1)-P(1)-C(13)
Co(1)-P(2)-C(2)
Co(1)-P(2)-C(25) 121.62(9) C(2)-P(2)-C(19)
107.7(1)
101.58(10) Co(1)-P(2)-C(19)
C(7)-P(1)-C(13)
meta protons have the same integration (8H), the ortho protons
(closer to the metal center) at 9.8 ppm are very broad (1.7 ppm
width at half-height), much broader than the meta protons at
6.5 ppm (0.2 ppm width at half-height). Similarly the para
protons and the backbone methylenes (both integrate to 4H)
can be distinguished by the fact that the para protons at 8.4
ppm are sharp while the much closer methylene protons are
observed at -6.3 ppm (1.3 ppm width). 31P{1H} NMR spectra
are not observed for any of the complexes presented.
C(2)-P(2)-C(25)
N(1)-Si(1)-C(1)
N(1)-Si(1)-C(4)
C(1)-Si(1)-C(4)
N(1)-Si(2)-C(2)
N(1)-Si(2)-C(6)
C(2)-Si(2)-C(6)
106.4(1)
105.1(1)
112.8(1)
107.9(2)
104.5(1)
114.3(1)
108.9(1)
C(19)-P(2)-C(25)
N(1)-Si(1)-C(3)
C(1)-Si(1)-C(3)
C(3)-Si(1)-C(4)
N(1)-Si(2)-C(5)
C(2)-Si(2)-C(5)
C(5)-Si(2)-C(6)
Co(1)-N(1)-Si(2)
Co(1)-N(1)-Si(1) 115.2(1)
Si(1)-N(1)-Si(2) 126.3(1)
Co(1)-C(31)-C(32) 100.1(2)
Reactivity of CoX[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (X ) Cl, Br) with
Benzyl Halides. Addition of excess benzyl chloride (10 equiv)
to a blue toluene solution of 1 results in a slow color change to
bright red to generate the cobalt(III) complex CoCl2[N(SiMe2-
CH2PPh2)2] (8) (Scheme 2). Similarly, reaction of 1 with benzyl
bromide rapidly progresses to give the mixed bromo-chloro
derivative CoBrCl[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (9). If this reaction is
allowed to proceed over longer periods of time, a halide
exchange reaction occurs to yield the dibromo complex
CoBr2[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (10) and benzyl chloride (detected
by 1H NMR spectroscopy). This last step is substantially slower
than the one-electron oxidation, but it makes obtaining pure 9
difficult. The dibromide 10 can also be made from CoBr-
[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (2) and benzyl bromide; in this case the
reaction proceeds to completion within 2 h. In all cases, the
benzyl group ends up as 0.5 equiv of bibenzyl (PhCH2CH2Ph),
CoCl2[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (10)
Br(1)-Co(1)-Br(2) 117.88(5) Br(1)-Co(1)-P(1)
91.18(5)
121.4(2)
96.96(6)
173.87(8)
87.0(1)
Br(1)-Co(1)-P(2)
Br(2)-Co(1)-P(1)
88.92(5) Br(1)-Co(1)-N(1)
88.41(6) Br(2)-Co(1)-P(2)
Br(2)-Co(1)-N(1) 120.7(1)
P(1)-Co(1)-P(2)
P(2)-Co(1)-N(1)
Co(1)-P(1)-C(7)
C(1)-P(1)-C(7)
C(7)-P(1)-C(13)
Co(1)-P(2)-C(19)
C(2)-P(2)-C(19)
C(19)-P(2)-C(25)
N(1)-Si(1)-C(3)
C(1)-Si(1)-C(3)
C(3)-Si(1)-C(4)
N(1)-Si(2)-C(5)
C(2)-Si(2)-C(5)
C(5)-Si(2)-C(6)
Co(1)-N(1)-Si(2)
P(1)-Co(1)-N(1)
Co(1)-P(1)-C(1)
87.7(1)
103.5(2)
113.8(2)
106.9(3)
103.2(3)
120.1(2)
105.6(3)
101.1(3)
113.2(3)
111.1(3)
107.3(4)
113.9(3)
106.9(4)
108.2(4)
118.6(3)
Co(1)-P(1)-C(13) 119.8(2)
C(1)-P(1)-C(13)
Co(1)-P(2)-C(2)
109.0(3)
100.3(2)
Co(1)-P(2)-C(25) 118.6(2)
C(2)-P(2)-C(25)
N(1)-Si(1)-C(1)
N(1)-Si(1)-C(4)
C(1)-Si(1)-C(4)
N(1)-Si(2)-C(2)
N(1)-Si(2)-C(6)
C(2)-Si(2)-C(6)
110.4(3)
105.5(2)
113.0(3)
106.7(3)
104.5(3)
112.4(3)
110.7(3)
1
Co(1)-N(1)-Si(1) 116.1(3)
Si(1)-N(1)-Si(2) 125.1(3)
detected by H NMR spectroscopy (2.85 ppm) and by mass
spectroscopy (m/e 182, M+).
The intermediacy of benzyl radicals was substantiated by
performing the reaction in the presence of the radical trapping
agent, TEMPO. The benzyl-trapped product, N-benzyloxy-
2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine, was identified by MS (m/e 247,
M+) and by 1H NMR spectroscopy (singlet at 4.82 ppm due to
N-O-CH2-Ph).13 Control reactions showed that TEMPO
C6D6), the direction of shifting peaks upon increased temperature
(peaks shift toward their diamagnetic values), and the inherent
broadness of each peak (protons closer to the metal are
broader).51 The SiMe2 peak at -3.3 ppm is easily identified
by its unique integration (12H). Although the phenyl ortho and

10130 J. Am. Chem. Soc., Vol. 120, No. 39, 1998
Fryzuk et al.
pyramidal, usually CoL4X, where L4 is a square-planar system
such as porphyrin or salen and X is an alkyl or halide group.58-64
Although most of these are diamagnetic, a few are paramagnetic
with µeff ) 2.4-3.25 µB.65-68 There are, to our knowledge,
only three X-ray structures of trigonal-bipyramidal cobalt(III)
complexes: CoCl3(PEt3)2,69 CoI3(PMe3)2,70 and CoI3(SbPh3)2.71
As well, a series of CoX3(PR3)2 complexes have been studied
spectroscopically and by EXAFS to yield structural informa-
tion.72,73 From the X-ray and EXAFS studies, Co-P bond
lengths in trigonal-bipyramidal Co(III) complexes range from
2.28 to 2.34 Å; in comparison, the Co-P bond lengths in 10 of
2.264(2) and 2.282(2) Å are on the short side but otherwise
unremarkable. As expected, the Co-P distances are sensitive
to spin state; Co-P distances in diamagnetic octahedral Co(III)
complexes such as CoMe2(PMe3)2(µ-(CH2)2PMe2) (2.196, 2.174
Å)74 are significantly shorter than in 10.
Cobalt(III) amides (excluding porphyrin-type macrocycles)
are uncommon. The homoleptic amide, high-spin trigonal Co-
[N(SiMe3)2]3, with Co-N and Si-N bond lengths of 1.870(3)
and 1.754(2) Å, respectively, has been reported.75 In 10 the
Co-N distance of 1.926(5) Å and Si-N distances of 1.734(5)
and 1.721(5) Å indicate a lesser degree of amide lone-pair
interaction with the metal center.
Figure2. MolecularstructureandnumberingschemeforCoBr2[N(SiMe2-
CH2PPh2)2] (10); 33% probability thermal ellipsoids are shown.
Because of the scarcity of Co(III) compounds in a trigonal-
bipyramidal geometry, there is a lack of detailed magnetic data
for such systems. The CoX3(PR3)2 series of complexes69,70,72,73
are paramagnetic with µeff ) 2.93-3.28 µB, comparable to 9
and 10, but CoI3(SbPh3)2 has a room-temperature magnetic
moment of 4.4 µB, possibly consistent with some spin-
equilibrium process.71 However, no detailed variable-temper-
ature magnetic study of a trigonal-bipyramidal Co(III) system
has been reported, either in the solid state or in solution.
The solid-state molar magnetic susceptibility (øm) of
CoBr2[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2]‚(0.5 C7H8) (10) was measured from
4.4 to 81.5 K and the results are shown in Figure 3 as a plot of
magnetic moment vs temperature. At high temperatures the
does not react with CoX[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] or with benzyl
halides separately.
Five-coordinate Co(III) complexes are not that common. The
vast majority of Co(III) derivatives are octahedral and generally
are diamagnetic (low spin d6).37 In contrast, complexes 8, 9,
and 10 are paramagnetic, with solution magnetic moments of
3.6, 3.1, and 3.3 µB, respectively. A value of 3.1 µB for 9 is
consistent with a d6 intermediate spin system,52 corresponding
to two unpaired electrons, and is within the observed range of
the other five-coordinate Co(III) complexes known. The
observed value of 3.6 µB for 8, however, is substantially higher;
the reasons for this are uncertain.
Despite the paramagnetism of these complexes, broad, shifted
1H NMR spectra can be observed and integration and variable-
temperature NMR spectra yield chemical shift information. To
our knowledge there is only one other cobalt(III) paramagnetic
1H NMR spectrum reported.53
(58) Bruckner, S.; Calligaris, M.; Nardin, G.; Randaccio, L. Inorg. Chim.
Acta 1969, 3, 308.
(59) Costa, G.; Mestroni, G.; Stefani, L. J. Organomet. Chem. 1967, 7,
493.
(60) Costa, G.; Mestroni, G.; Tauzher, G.; Stefani, L. J. Organomet.
Chem. 1966, 6, 181.
(61) Hitchcock, P. B.; McLaughlin, G. M. J. Chem. Soc., Dalton Trans.
1976, 1927.
(62) Jaynes, B. S.; Ren, T.; Masschelien, A.; Lippard, S. J. J. Am. Chem.
Soc. 1993, 115, 5589.
(63) Marzilli, L. G.; Summers, M. F.; Bresciani-Pahor, N.; Zangrando,
E.; Charland, J.-P.; Randaccio, L. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1985, 107, 6880.
(64) Summers, J. S.; Petersen, J. L.; Stolzenberg, A. M. J. Am. Chem.
Soc. 1994, 116, 7189.
(65) Bailey, N. A.; McKenzie, E. D.; Worthington, J. M. J. Chem. Soc.,
Dalton Trans. 1977, 763.
(66) Gerloch, M.; Higson, B. M.; McKenzie, E. D. J. Chem. Soc., Chem.
Commun. 1971, 1149.
To confirm the nature of the coordination sphere, an X-ray
crystal structure of 10 was obtained. The structural analysis
reveals the nearly perfectly trigonal-bipyramidal geometry
around cobalt (Figure 2). The phosphines are trans-axially
oriented, with a P-Co-P angle of 173.87(8)° (Table 3). The
amide and two halides are equatorial, with the in-plane angles
of 117.88(5)°, 121.4(2)°, and 120.7(1)° an indication of the lack
of distortion in this system. Note that an undistorted trigonal
bipyramid is the theoretically predicted structure for a five-
coordinate intermediate-spin d6 complex; a low-spin d6 complex
such as Ir(R)X[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)] will Jahn-Teller distort.54-57
Of the few structurally characterized examples of five-
coordinate cobalt(III) complexes, the majority are square
(67) Ko¨nig, E.; Kremer, S.; Schnakig, R.; Kanellakopulos, B. Chem. Phys.
1978, 34, 379.
(68) McKenzie, E. D.; Worthington, J. M. Inorg. Chim. Acta 1976, 16,
9.
(69) van Enckevort, W. K. P.; Hendricks, H. M.; Beurskens, P. T. Cryst.
Struct. Commun. 1977, 6, 531.
(51) Muller, G.; Neugebauer, D.; Geike, W.; Kohler, F. H.; Pebler, J.;
Schmidbaur, H. Organometallics 1983, 2, 257.
(52) Kahn, O. Molecular Magnetism; VCH: New York, 1993.
(53) Collins, T. J.; Richmond, T. G.; Santarsiero, B. D.; Treco, B. G. R.
T. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1986, 108, 2088.
(54) Jean, Y.; Eisenstein, O. Polyhedron 1988, 7, 405.
(55) Rachidi, I. E.-I.; Eisenstein, O.; Jean, Y. New J. Chem. 1990, 14,
671.
(70) McAuliffe, C. A.; Godfrey, S. M.; Mackie, A. G.; Pritchard, R. G.
Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl. 1992, 31, 919.
(71) Godfrey, S. M.; McAuliffe, C. A.; Pritchard, R. G. J. Chem. Soc.,
Chem. Commun. 1994, 45.
(72) Levason, W.; Ogden, J. S.; Spicer, M. D. Inorg. Chem. 1989, 28,
2128.
(73) Levason, W.; Spicer, M. D. J. Chem. Soc., Dalton Trans. 1990,
719.
(56) Riehl, J. F.; Jean, Y.; Eisenstein, O.; Pelissier, M. Organometallics
1992, 11, 729.
(57) Fryzuk, M. D.; MacNeil, P. A.; Massey, R. L.; Ball, R. G. J.
Organomet. Chem. 1989, 368, 231.
(74) Brauer, D. J.; Kruger, C.; Roberts, P. J.; Tsay, Y.-H. Chem. Ber.
1974, 107, 3706.
(75) Ellison, J. J.; Power, P. P.; Shoner, S. C. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1989,
111, 8044.

One-Electron Transformations of Paramagnetic Co Complexes
J. Am. Chem. Soc., Vol. 120, No. 39, 1998 10131
state has been observed in square-planar and square-pyramidal
Co(III) complexes and the zero-field splitting parameter has been
measured in a square-planar K[CoIIIN4]‚2H2O system (N4 )
tetradentate diaminodiamido ligand) to be 53.7 cm-1 77,78
.
Variable-temperature measurements on square-planar [tBu3N]-
[Co(NS)2] (NS ) aminothiophenolato ligand) were not con-
ducted to low enough temperature to measure the zero-field
splitting.79 A series of square-pyramidal Co(III) complexes,
Co(III)N4X (N4 ) tetradentate diaminodiamido ligand; X ) Cl,
Br, I), were investigated in detail; the magnetism was found to
be particularly complex and no zero-field splittings were
reported.66,67 Square-planar Fe(II) phthalocyanine is intermedi-
ate-spin and a zero-field splitting value of 69.9 cm-1 has been
reported;80 iron(II) tetraphenylporphyrin is also an intermediate-
spin compound but its magnetic behavior is complicated by
mixing of terms of similar energy.81 Other metal centers which
exhibit S ) 1 zero-field splitting include high-spin d8 Ni(II)
complexes and d2 V(III) complexes.35,52 It would be interesting
to be able to correlate zero-field splitting values for Co(III) with
geometry and ligand field strength as has been done for high-
spin Co(II) systems;82-84 however, at present there are insuf-
ficient data in different geometries, although it does appear that
square-planar coordination enforces greater zero-field splitting
than a five-coordinate trigonal-bipyramidal geometry.
Figure 3. Graph of magnetic susceptibility vs T for CoBr2[N(SiMe2-
CH2PPh2)2] (10).
The UV-vis spectra of these Co(III) compounds are domi-
nated by an intense band around 500 nm and another band
around 330 nm. By using these bands, each dihalo derivative
can be uniquely identified. Absorption spectra of CoX3P2
complexes have been extensively studied,72,73,85,86 and on the
basis of these similar compounds, the large band observed
around 500 nm is assigned as a phosphine to metal (P(σ)f
magnetic moment tends toward the 3.3 µB observed at room
temperature, consistent with some second-order spin-orbit
coupling to an intermediate-spin d6 S ) 1 system. As the
temperature is lowered the moment drops to 1.59 µB at 4.4 K,
a behavior that may be attributed to zero-field splitting (ZFS)
of the S ) 1 level into the (1 Kramers doublet and a
nonmagnetic S ) 0 state, with a separation of D cm-1. The
data were analyzed with use of the equation for zero-field
splitting of a S ) 1 state,76
2
2
M(dxy,x -y )) charge-transfer band; the extinction coefficient of
1770 M-1 cm-1 supports this assignment. Similarly, the higher
2
energy band is assigned as a phosphine to metal (P(σ)fM(dz ))
(2/x)(1 - e-x)
1 + 2e-x
2e-x
charge-transfer band. An extra charge-transfer band in 10 at
øCo(III) ) 1/3 C
+ 2/3 C
434 nm is assigned as
a bromine-to-metal (Br(π)f
1 + 2e-x
[
]
[
]
2
2
M(dxy,x -y )) transition. One can observe d-d bands around
400-434 nm and also at lower energy, but these are much
weaker in intensity and appear at best as shoulders, or are
obscured completely.
where C ) (Ng2µâ /kT) and x ) (D/kT). The experimental data
could be accurately fit to the model by the inclusion of a small
amount of paramagnetic S ) /2 impurity, likely the Co(II)
2
3
Dramatic color changes and independent knowledge of
spectra of complexes led UV-visible spectroscopy to become
the method of choice for some preliminary kinetic investigations
as well as compound identification. The reaction of PhCH2X
(X ) Cl, Br) and CoY[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (Y ) Cl, Br) was
conveniently monitored by following the growth of the product
CoXY[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] as evidenced by its absorption
around 500 nm.
starting material. This was accomplished by combining the
above expression with the Curie law term,
Ng2µâ S(S + 1)
2
øpara
)
3kT
according to,
The effect of changing the halide on the bimolecular rate
constant k of the reaction was probed by reaction of 1 with
øm ) [1 - P]øCo(III) + Pøpara
where P represents the fraction of paramagnetic impurity (g )
2.3). The fit was achieved via a nonlinear least-squares
procedure, using a minimized goodness of fit function F; the
best fit of the experimental data with theory (Figure 3) yields
D ) 32.6 ( 0.5 cm-1, g ) 2.15 ( 0.006, and P ) 0.0523 (
0.003 (F ) 0.0159). A negative value of D was not fit
adequately to the model, implying that the positive sign of D is
valid. A change in the g-value of the paramagnetic impurity
from 2.15 to 2.3 did not change the D or g value of the fit, but
merely the amount of paramagnetic impurity P. The splitting
value of 32.6 cm-1 is quite large, but as mentioned previously,
there is a paucity of data on trigonal-bipyramidal Co(III) systems
with which to compare this value. The S ) 1 intermediate spin
(77) Ko¨nig, E.; Schnakig, R.; Kanellakopulos, B. J. Chem. Phys. 1975,
62, 3907.
(78) Birker, P. J. M. W. L.; Bour, J. J.; Steggerda, J. J. Inorg. Chem.
1973, 12, 1254.
(79) Birker, P. J. M. W. L.; Boer, E. A. d.; Bour, J. J. J. Coord. Chem.
1973, 3, 175.
(80) Dale, B. W.; Williams, R. J. P.; Johnson, C. E.; Throp, T. L. J.
Chem. Phys. 1968, 49, 3441.
(81) Nakazawa, H.; Yamaguchi, Y.; Mizuta, T.; Ichimura, S.; Miyoshi,
K. Organometallics 1995, 14, 4635.
(82) Makinen, M. W.; Kuo, L. C.; Yim, M. B.; Wells, G. B.; Fukuyama,
J. M.; Kim, J. E. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1985, 107, 5245.
(83) Makinen, M. W.; Yim, M. B. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 1981,
78, 6221.
(84) Carlin, R. L. Science 1985, 227, 1291.
(85) Jensen, K. A.; Jorgensen, C. K. Acta Chem. Scand. 1965, 19, 451.
(86) Jenson, K. A.; Nygaard, B.; Pedersen, C. T. Acta Chem. Scand.
1963, 17, 1126.
(76) O’Connor, C. J. Prog. Inorg. Chem. 1982, 29, 203.

10132 J. Am. Chem. Soc., Vol. 120, No. 39, 1998
Fryzuk et al.
Scheme 3
Scheme 4
the cobalt(III) alkyl halide complex by performing the reaction
at lower temperatures were not successful; thus addition of
alkyllithium reagents to CoCl2[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (8) at -78
°C caused a color change from red to yellow/orange, which
upon warming turned to the blue color of the Co(II) species.
This low-temperature color change may indeed be the inter-
mediate alkyl halide complex, but this proved unisolable despite
attempts at adding trapping agents (phosphine, pyridine, CO)
at low temperature.
With regard to the one-electron oxidation of CoX[N(SiMe2-
CH2PPh2)2] by RX, the stoichiometry of this reaction is therefore
1:1, and not 1:0.5 as is found in classical systems (Scheme 1).
This is due to the fact that alkyl radicals, R•, do not form stable
complexes with the Co(II) present.92 Facile homolysis of
Co(III)-carbon bonds is well-known in the literature; macro-
cyclic ligands and/or the proper choice of base tend to stabilize
these bonds.93-96 Stable nonmacrocyclic alkyl complexes have
been prepared but all are octahedral, diamagnetic, and therefore
sterically and electronically saturated. Examples include CoMe3-
(PMe3)3,97 CoR2(acac)(PR′3)2,98 and CpCoLRR′.99 Surprisingly,
addition of triethylphosphine to the dihalo complexes 8 or 9
benzyl chloride and benzyl bromide (Scheme 2). Plots of kobs
vs [PhCH2X] were linear under pseudo-first-order conditions,
confirming the bimolecular nature of the reaction. Data give a
rate constant of k ) 8.4 ( 0.5 × 10-5 M-1 s-1 for PhCH2Cl
and k ) 1.6 ( 0.5 × 10-2 M-1 s-1 for PhCH2Br addition. The
much faster rate for benzyl bromide, coupled with the observa-
tion of bibenzyl, supports the generally accepted radical-based
mechanism for this type of reaction.23,24,26,28,87-90 In addition,
consistent with a radical-based mechanism, the reaction does
not occur with unactivated substrates such as chlorobenzene.91
According to the classical mechanism shown in Scheme 1,
the reaction of PhCH2X with a Co(II) complex should produce
two products: a cobalt(III)-benzyl derivative and a Co(III)X
complex. In the reaction being monitored above, this corre-
sponds to Co(CH2Ph)X[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)] from alkyl transfer
and CoX2[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] from halide transfer. However,
no evidence for the former compound was observed, either by
NMR or by UV-vis spectroscopy. To test whether a five-
coordinate, organocobalt(III) complex of the type Co(R)X-
[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] would be stable, we attempted to met-
athesize one halide of dichloride 8 with various alkylating agents
to generate this putative species independently. Addition of 1
equiv of an alkyllithium or Grignard reagent (MeLi, PhCH2-
MgCl, LiCH2SiMe3) to the dichloride, CoCl2[N(SiMe2CH2-
PPh2)2] (8), resulted in the formation of dark blue 1, the Co(II)
starting material, identified by its visible spectrum. Further
addition of reagent formed the Co(II) alkyl species as would
be expected. This result suggests that the five-coordinate Co(III)
alkyls are intrinsically unstable and decompose upon formation
by homolytic cleavage of the Co(III)-C bond to give a Co(II)
product and the alkyl radical (Scheme 3). Attempts to stabilize
1
showed no change in either the H NMR or UV-vis spectra
and no alkyl species could be trapped by performing metathesis
reactions in the presence of donor ligands. The stability of the
five-coordinate, 16-electron complexes to neutral donor addition
could be due to sterics, but an examination of the X-ray crystal
structure of 10 suggests that such steric crowding is not present.
A more likely explanation lies in the stability of the five-
coordinate triplet state versus the six-coordinate state, which
would have to undergo spin pairing to form a singlet state.
Others have observed that in many situations,100 in particular
in 15-electron Cr(III) systems,101 the addition of a donor ligand
is insufficient to overcome the electronic cost of spin pairing,
and despite electronic unsaturation at the metal, donor binding
is not observed.
Monitoring the reaction of LiCH2SiMe3 with dichloride 8 in
an NMR tube resulted in the formation of Me4Si and PhCH2-
CH2Ph (bibenzyl), presumably from a trimethylsilylmethyl
•
radical (Me3SiCH2 ) abstracting a proton from the toluene
solvent. The resulting benzyl radicals then coupled to form
bibenzyl (Scheme 4). The observation of these products
supports the intermediacy of alkyl radicals in this chemistry.
This implies that complexes 8-10 can be used to generate alkyl
radicals in situ given the appropriate organolithium or Grignard
reagent.
(87) Huber, T. A.; Macartney, D. H.; Baird, M. C. Organometallics 1993,
12, 4715.
(88) Huber, T. A.; Macartney, D. H.; Baird, M. C. Organometallics 1995,
14, 592.
(92) It must be assumed on the basis of precedent that in fact the
generated alkyl radicals do combine with the cobalt(II) halide complex
present, but the resulting alkyl halide is homolytically unstable, releasing
the alkyl radical back to the system.
(89) Lee, K.-W.; Brown, T. L. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1987, 109, 3269.
(90) Scott, S. L.; Espenson, J. H.; Zhu, Z. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1993, 115,
1789.
(93) Bresciani-Pahor, N.; Forcolin, M.; Marzilli, L. G.; Randaccio, L.;
Summers, M. F.; Toscano, P. J. Coord. Chem. ReV. 1985, 63, 1.
(94) Costa, G. Pure Appl. Chem. 1972, 30, 335.
(95) Ng, F. T. T.; Rempel, G. L. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1982, 104, 621.
(96) Tsou, T.-T.; Loots, M.; Halpern, J. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1982, 104,
623.
(97) Klein, H.-F.; Karsch, H. H. Chem. Ber. 1975, 108, 956.
(98) Ikariya, T.; Yamamoto, A. J. Organomet. Chem. 1976, 116, 239.
(99) Yamazaki, H.; Hagihara, N. J. Organomet. Chem. 1970, 21, 431.
(100) Poli, R. Chem. ReV. 1996, 96, 2135.
(101) Fettinger, J. C.; Mattamana, S. P.; Poli, R.; Rogers, R. D.
Organometallics 1996, 15, 4211.
(91) A complicating factor in the reaction of 1 with benzyl bromide is
the slower ongoing chloride for bromide substitution reaction, i.e., conver-
sion of 9 to 10. To account for this potentially overlapping reaction
kinetically, the reaction of 2 with benzyl bromide was also monitored. The
rate constant for this reaction is k ) 2.0 ( 0.5 × 10-2 M-1 s-1, implying
that the halide exchange side-reaction does not greatly affect the overall
kinetic data. Note that no peaks characteristic of dibromide 10 (e.g. the
extra CT band at 434 nm) are observed in kinetic experiments starting with
cobalt chloride 1.

One-Electron Transformations of Paramagnetic Co Complexes
J. Am. Chem. Soc., Vol. 120, No. 39, 1998 10133
Reactivity of CoMe[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (4) with Alkyl
Halides. Addition of 1 equiv of MeI to a yellow toluene
solution of 4 results in the slow formation of a green solution
with visible spectral bands at 538, 634, and 806 nm. This is
similar to the bands of 1 and 2 and the product is identified by
the visible spectrum, H NMR spectrum, elemental analysis,
and mass spectrum as CoI[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (3). Similarly,
2 can be prepared by addition of MeBr to 4 (eq 4).
chloride is conducted in a sealed NMR tube, bibenzyl is
produced and peaks assignable to 1 are observed.
Conclusions
The results of this study show that one-electron oxidation of
Co(II) to Co(III) by certain alkyl halides is dependent on both
the ancillary ligands and the spin state of the complex. Rather
than observe the typical products found for the classical
mechanism (Scheme 1), the halide complexes CoX[N(SiMe2-
CH2PPh2)2] react with 1 equiv of RX to generate the corre-
sponding trivalent derivatives CoX2[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2]. The
reaction of square-planar, low-spin CoR[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2]
complexes with 1 equiv of RX gives their precursor CoX-
[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] complexes. While the mechanism of the
activation of alkyl halides by these Co(II) derivatives no doubt
follows that proposed for the classical mechanism, the instability
of the presumed cobalt(III) alkyl derivative, Co(R)X[N(SiMe2-
CH2PPh2)2], one of the putative products of this reaction, is the
key to the nonclassical outcome of these reactions. Hence, this
leads to a change in the stoichiometry of the process; instead
of 0.5 equiv of RX, 1 equiv of the alkyl halide must be used.
Further confirmation of the unstable nature of the five-
coordinate, Co(III) alkyl halide complexes was obtained by
reaction of organolithium reagents, RLi, with the stable cobalt-
(III) derivative, CoX2[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2]; reduction to Co(II)
was observed along with products found, indicative of the
presence of alkyl radical, R•.
1
(4)
The final product, then, is still a Co(II) product; apparently
a halide for alkyl metathesis has occurred and not an oxidation.
This result is seemingly contrary to what one would expect,
based on the classical mechanism. Thus, halide abstraction by
the cobalt(II) alkyl 4 should be the first step, to give Co(Me)X-
[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2]; however, this complex was shown to
rapidly decompose by Co-R bond homolysis to generate the
observed product CoX[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] and presumably
methane from the methyl radical abstracting a proton from
toluene (bibenzyl is also observed). As a result, one-electron
oxidation chemistry is occurring, followed by a rapid one-
electron reduction to yield the apparent halide for alkyl
substitution.
The trivalent, five-coordinate cobalt complexes CoX2[N(SiMe2-
CH2PPh2)2] are paramagnetic and show variable-temperature
magnetic behavior consistent with S ) 1 zero-field splitting.
To our knowledge, this represents the first detailed magnetic
study of a trigonal-bipyramidal Co(III) derivative.
Experimental Section
Addition of approximately 1 equiv of benzyl chloride to 4
gives two products over several hours, their proportions depend-
ing on the relative concentration of 4 and PhCH2X. One product
is 1, the halide for alkyl metathesis product. A second, minor
product precipitates out of toluene as a purple powder. If the
reaction is done in excess benzyl chloride, after the formation
of 1, the reaction continues on to form 8, the halide transfer
product, but this step is slow enough that the formation of 1 is
readily observable. That is not the case for benzyl bromide
addition, where the primary product CoBr[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2]
(2) rapidly continues reacting with benzyl bromide to give
CoBr2[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (10), both identified by UV-visible
spectroscopy. In this reaction, over time, a purple powder also
precipitates out of solution. These minor purple products and
the mechanism of their formation will be presented elsewhere.102
To determine the fate of the alkyl group on the cobalt in the
case of halide-for-alkyl substitution, the reaction of Co(CH2-
SiMe3)[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (6) with excess benzyl bromide was
followed by1H NMR spectroscopy. In the presence of excess
benzyl bromide, the formation of Me3SiCH2Br was clearly
observed along with bibenzyl. The presence of trimethylsilyl-
General Procedures. Unless otherwise stated all manipulations
were performed under an atmosphere of dry, oxygen-free dinitrogen
or argon by means of standard Schlenk or glovebox techniques. The
glovebox used was a Vacuum Atmospheres HE-553-2 workstation
equipped with a MO-40-2H purification system and a -40 °C freezer.
1H NMR spectroscopy was performed on a Bruker WH-400 or a Bruker
AC-200 instrument operating at 400 and 200 MHz, respectively. 1H
NMR spectra were referenced to internal C6D5H (7.15 ppm). Magnetic
moments were measured by a modification of Evans Method (C6D5H
as a reference peak) on the NMR spectrometers listed above. Infrared
spectra were recorded on a BOMEM MB-100 spectrometer. UV-
Vis spectra were recorded on a HP-8452A diode array spectrophotom-
eter. Mass spectra were measured with a Kratos MS-50 EI instrument
operating at 70 eV. Microanalyses (C, H, N) were performed by Mr.
P. Borda of this department.
Materials. The preparation of the lithium salt LiN(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2
has been previously described.103 NaCp‚DME was prepared by the
reaction of Na with CpH in dry DME. KCH2Ph and LiCH2SiMe3 were
prepared by literature procedures.104 CoCl2 and CoBr2 were either used
as received or dried in refluxing Me3SiCl. Alkyl halides were either
distilled under N2 or passed through a column of activated alumina,
and then degassed by 3 freeze-pump-thaw cycles. All other reagents
were obtained from commercial sources and used as received.
Hexanes, toluene, and THF were heated to reflux over CaH2 prior
to a final distillation from either sodium metal or sodium benzophenone
ketyl under an Ar atmosphere. Deuterated solvents were dried by
distillation from sodium benzophenone ketyl under nitrogen; oxygen
was removed by trap-to-trap distillation and 3 freeze-pump-thaw
cycles.
•
methyl bromide can be attributed to the formation of Me3SiCH2
radicals, which can abstract a bromide from the excess benzyl
bromide present. This result also illustrates the inherent
instability of the corresponding Co(III) complex, Co(CH2-
SiMe3)Br[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2], which must decompose by rapid
homolysis of the cobalt-carbon bond, as shown in other
experiments. In addition, if the reaction of 4 with benzyl
(103) Fryzuk, M. D.; MacNeil, P. A.; Rettig, S. J.; Secco, A. S.; Trotter,
J. Organometallics 1982, 1, 918.
(104) Schlosser, M.; Ladenberger, V. J. Organomet. Chem. 1967, 8, 193.
(102) Fryzuk, M. D.; Leznoff, D. B.; Young, V. G., Jr. Manuscript in
preparation.

10134 J. Am. Chem. Soc., Vol. 120, No. 39, 1998
Fryzuk et al.
Variable-Temperature Magnetic Susceptibility Measurements.
Magnetic susceptibility measurements on powdered samples of iodide
3 (see Supporting Information) and dibromide 10 were made at an
applied field of 7500 G over the temperature range 4.6 to 80 K with a
PAR Model 155 vibrating-sample magnetometer as previously de-
scribed.105 Magnetic susceptibilities were corrected for the diamag-
netism of all atoms with Pascal’s constants.
X-ray Crystallographic Analyses. Co(CH2Ph)[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2]
(5) and CoBr2[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (10)‚0.5C7H8. For complexes 5
and 10, crystallographic data appear in Table 1. The final unit-cell
parameters were obtained by least squares on the setting angles for 25
reflections with 2θ ) 22.0-31.7° for 5 and 19.1-57.5° for 10. The
intensities of three standard reflections, measured every 200 reflections,
decayed linearly by 3.6% for 5 and showed only small random
fluctuations for 10. The data were processed,106 corrected for Lorentz
and polarization effects, decay (for 5), and absorption (empirical, based
on azimuthal scans).
The structures were solved by the Patterson method. The asymmetric
unit of 10 contains half of a toluene molecule. The toluene is disordered
about an inversion center and was modeled by two full-occupancy
(overlapping) carbon atoms and three half-occupancy carbon atoms.
All non-hydrogen atoms were refined with anisotropic thermal param-
eters. Hydrogen atoms were fixed in idealized positions (staggered
methyl groups, C-H ) 0.98 Å, BH ) 1.2 Bbonded atom). Secondary
extinction corrections (Zachariasen type, isotropic) were applied, the
final values of the extinction coefficients being 3.4(2) × 10-7 for 5
and 7.5(12) × 10-7 for 10. Neutral atom scattering factors and
anomalous dispersion corrections were taken from the International
Tables for X-ray Crystallography.107 Selected bond lengths and angles
appear in Tables 2 and 3. Final atomic coordinates and equivalent
isotropic thermal parameters, complete tables of bond lengths and
angles, hydrogen atom parameters, anisotropic thermal parameters,
torsion angles, intermolecular contacts, and least-squares planes are
included as Supporting Information.
Synthesis of CoCl[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (1). To a 15 mL THF
suspension of CoCl2 (0.35 g, 2.7 mmol) was added dropwise a 10 mL
THF solution of LiN(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2 (1.40 g, 2.6 mmol). The light
baby blue suspension formed a dark blue solution over 30 min. After
overnight stirring the THF was removed in vacuo, the residue extracted
with toluene and filtered through Celite, and the toluene evaporated to
near dryness. The resulting oil was layered with hexanes and allowed
to stand. Two days later crystals of CoCl[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (1) were
collected and dried. Yield: 1.34 g (82%). Anal. Calcd for C30H36-
ClCoNP2Si2: C, 57.83; H, 5.82; N, 2.25. Found: C, 57.74; H, 5.87;
N, 2.29. 1H NMR (C6D6): δ 15.0 (v br, 8H), -5.4 (br, 4H). UV-vis
(C7H8): 506 (ꢀ ) 330 M-1 cm-1), 602 (ꢀ ) 700 M-1 cm-1), 786 (ꢀ )
290 M-1 cm-1) nm. MS: m/e 622 (M+). µeff ) 4.2 µB.
to -78 °C and MeLi (0.3 mL, 1.4 M in ether, 0.4 mmol) was added
dropwise until the blue color changed to yellow-orange. This was
warmed to room temperature and stirred for 30 min, and the THF was
removed in vacuo. The residue was extracted with hexanes and filtered
through Celite, and the yellow hexanes solution was allowed to slowly
evaporate. Yellow crystals of 4 were deposited overnight. Alternately,
a 10 mL toluene solution of 1 was titrated with MeLi until the blue
color dissipated to yellow-orange. Removal of the toluene and
extraction with hexanes as before yielded CoMe[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2]
(4). Yield: 0.23 g (95%). Anal. Calcd for C31H39CoNP2Si2: C, 61.78;
H, 6.52; N, 2.32. Found: C, 61.64; H, 6.63; N, 2.40. 1H NMR
(C6D6): δ 9.8 (v br, 8H, o-Ph), 8.4 (s, 4H, p-Ph), 6.5 (s, 8H, m-Ph),
-3.3 (br, 12H, SiMe2), -6.3 (v br, 4H, CH2). MS: m/e 602 (M+),
587 (M+ - Me). µeff ) 2.2 µB.
Synthesis of Co(CH2Ph)[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (5). A 10 mL THF
solution of CoCl[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (1) (0.17 g, 0.27 mmol) was
cooled to -78 °C and a 5 mL THF solution of KCH2Ph (0.035 g, 0.27
mmol) was added dropwise. The blue solution rapidly turned dark
orange/brown. The reaction was brought to room temperature and after
being stirred overnight the THF was removed in vacuo, the residue
extracted with ether and filtered through Celite, and hexanes (1:1) were
added. Slow evaporation yielded red prisms of Co(CH2Ph)[N(SiMe2-
CH2PPh2)2] (5). Yield: 0.10 g (55%). Anal. Calcd for C37H43CoNP2-
Si2: C, 65.47; H, 6.38; N, 2.06. Found: C, 65.15; H, 6.33; N, 2.00.
1H NMR (C6D6): δ 12.5 (br, 2H, CH2Ph), 8.1 (br, 8H, m-Ph), 7.3 (br,
overlap), 7.1 (s, overlap), -1.8 (br, 2H, CH2Ph), -4.0 (br, 12H, SiMe2).
MS: m/e 678 (M+), 587 (M+ - C7H7). µeff ) 2.1 µB.
Synthesis of Co(CH2SiMe3)[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (6). A 10 mL
THF solution of CoCl[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (1) (0.16 g, 0.26 mmol)
was cooled to -78 °C and a 5 mL toluene solution of LiCH2SiMe3
(0.024 g, 0.26 mmol) was added dropwise. The flask was brought to
room temperature over 10 min during which the blue/green solution
turned orange. After being stirred overnight the THF was removed in
vacuo and the residue was extracted with hexanes, filtered through
Celite and reduced to minimum hexanes. The solution deposited orange
crystals in the freezer overnight. Alternately, a 10 mL toluene solution
of 1 was titrated with LiCH2SiMe3 until the blue color changed to
orange. Removal of the toluene and extraction with hexanes as before
gave Co(CH2SiMe3)[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (6). Yield: 0.090 g (52%).
Anal. Calcd for C37H47CoNP2Si3: C, 60.51; H, 7.02; N, 2.08.
Found: C, 60.30; H, 7.34; N, 2.31. 1H NMR (C6D6): δ 8.5 (s, 4H,
p-Ph), 6.3 (br, 8H, m-Ph), -4.0 (v br, 12H, SiMe2), -9.5 (v br, 9H,
SiMe3). MS: m/e 674 (M+), 587 (M+ - CH2SiMe3). µeff ) 2.1 µB.
Synthesis of Co(C5H5)[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (7). CoCl[N(SiMe2-
CH2PPh2)2] (1) (0.10 g, 0.16 mmol) was dissolved in 10 mL of toluene.
To this was added NaCp‚DME (0.028 g, 0.16 mmol) in 10 mL of
toluene dropwise to very quickly yield first an orange and then a red/
brown solution upon completion of addition. This was stirred overnight
then filtered through Celite and pumped to dryness to give a brown/
red solid, which was recrystallized from a toluene/hexanes mixture (1:
1) standing for 1 week to give brown crystals of Co(C5H5)[N-
(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (7). Yield: 0.085 g (82%). Anal. Calcd for C35H41-
CoNP2Si2: C, 64.40; H, 6.33; N, 2.15. Found: C, 64.70; H, 6.42; N,
2.01. 1H NMR (C6D6): δ 8.1 (br, 8H, o-Ph), 7.6 (br, 8H, m-Ph), 7.05
(s, 4H, p-Ph), 1.0 (br, 12H, SiMe2), -11 (v br, 4H, CH2), -25 (v br,
5H, Cp). MS: m/e 652 (M+), 587 (M+ - C5H5). µeff ) 1.9 µB.
Synthesis of CoBr[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (2). To a 15 mL THF
suspension of CoBr2 (0.35 g, 1.60 mmol) was added dropwise a 10
mL THF solution of LiN(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2 (0.86 g, 1.61 mmol). A
dark blue-green solution formed over 30 min from the light green
suspension. After the solution was stirred overnight the THF was
removed in vacuo, the residue was extracted with toluene and filtered
through Celite, and the toluene was evaporated to near dryness. Crystals
of CoBr[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (2) slowly formed from minimum toluene
overnight and then were washed with hexanes, collected, and dried.
Yield: 0.76 g (71%). 1H NMR (C6D6): δ 15.2 (v br, 8H), -5.2 (br,
4H). UV-vis (C7H8): 518 (ꢀ ) 310 M-1 cm-1), 616 (ꢀ ) 530 M-1
cm-1), 792 (ꢀ ) 270 M-1 cm-1) nm. MS: m/e 668 (M+). µeff ) 4.1
µB.
Synthesis of CoCl2[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (8). To a 15 mL toluene
solution of CoCl[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (1) (0.15 g, 0.24 mmol) was
added excess (0.5 mL) benzyl chloride neat. No immediate color
change occurred but overnight stirring gave a brown/red solution. After
being stirred for four more days a bright red solution had formed. The
solvent was removed in vacuo and the residue was extracted with
minimum toluene and filtered through Celite and hexanes were added
carefully (1:1). Overnight, red crystals of CoCl2[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2]
(8) formed. Yield: 0.090 g (57%). Anal. Calcd for C30H36Cl2CoNP2-
Si2: C, 54.71; H, 5.51; N, 2.13. Found: C, 54.82; H, 5.60; N, 2.20.
1H NMR (C6D6): δ 12.1 (br, 12H, SiMe2), 9.9 (s, 4H, p-Ph), 7.2 (v br,
8H, o-Ph), 0.8 (br, 8H, m-Ph), -58.4 (v br, 4H, CH2). UV-vis
(C7H8): 326 (ꢀ ) 2380 M-1 cm-1), 488 (ꢀ ) 1770 M-1 cm-1) nm.
Synthesis of CoMe[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (4). A 10 mL THF
solution of CoCl[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (1) (0.25 g, 0.4 mmol) was cooled
(105) Haynes, J. S.; Oliver, K. W.; Rettig, S. J.; Thompson, R. C.; Trotter,
J. Can. J. Chem. 1984, 62, 891.
(106) teXsan: Crystal Structure Analysis Package; Molecular Structure
Corp.: The Woodlands, TX, 1995.
(107) (a) International Tables for X-ray Crystallography; Kynoch
Press: Birmingham, U.K. (present distributor Kluwer Academic Publish-
ers: Boston, MA), 1974; Vol. IV, pp 99-102. (b) International Tables for
Crystallography; Kluwer Academic Publishers: Boston, MA, 1992; Vol.
C, pp 200-206.

One-Electron Transformations of Paramagnetic Co Complexes
J. Am. Chem. Soc., Vol. 120, No. 39, 1998 10135
MS: m/e 657 (M+), 622 (M+ - Cl). µeff ) 3.6 µB. Reaction of 1 in
neat benzyl chloride solvent proceeded more rapidly to give the identical
product.
starting material by MS and the green solid as CoBr[N(SiMe2CH2-
PPh2)2] (2) by UV-vis, MS, and H NMR spectral comparisons with
known material.
1
Synthesis of CoBrCl[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (9). Method 1. To a
10 mL toluene solution of CoCl[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (1) (0.085 g, 0.14
mmol) was added excess (0.3 mL) neat benzyl bromide. Within 5 min
the solution turned from blue to become dark red. After being stirred
overnight the solvent was removed in vacuo and the residue was
extracted with minimum toluene and filtered through Celite. Hexanes
were added carefully (4:1 hexanes:toluene) and left to stand. Overnight
red crystals of CoBrCl[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (9) formed. To obtain
X-ray quality crystals, hexanes were added carefully to a minimum of
toluene containing 9/10 and allowed to stand, preferentially generating
crystals of 10‚0.5C7H8 over 2 days. Yield: 0.075 g (78%). Anal. Calcd
for C30H36BrClCoNP2Si2‚C7H8: C, 51.25; H, 5.16; N, 1.99. Found:
C, 51.29; H, 5.08; N, 2.08. 1H NMR (C6D6): δ 11.1 (br, 12H, SiMe2),
10.0 (s, 4H, p-Ph), 8.5 (v br, 8H, o-Ph), 1.1 (br, 8H, m-Ph), -58.2 (v
br, 4H, CH2). UV-vis: 330 (ꢀ ) 2900 M-1 cm-1), 496 (ꢀ ) 1900
M-1 cm-1) nm. MS: m/e 668 (M+ - Cl), 622 (M+ - Br). µeff ) 3.0
µB.
Method 2. To a 10 mL toluene solution of CoBr[N(SiMe2CH2-
PPh2)2] (2) (0.085 g, 0.13 mmol) was added excess (0.3 mL) neat benzyl
chloride. Overnight the solution became dark red and after being stirred
for 4 days the solvent was removed in vacuo and the residue was
extracted with minimum toluene and filtered through Celite. Hexanes
were added carefully (4:1 hexanes:toluene) and left to stand. Overnight
red crystals of CoBrCl[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (9) formed.
Synthesis of CoBr2[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (10). To a 10 mL toluene
solution of CoCl[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (1) (0.085 g, 0.14 mmol) or
CoBr[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (2) was added excess (0.3 mL) benzyl
bromide neat. Within 5 min the solution had become dark red. After
being stirred for 4 days (1) or overnight (2) the solvent was removed
in vacuo and the residue was extracted with minimum toluene and
filtered through Celite. Hexanes were added carefully (4:1 hexanes:
toluene) and left to stand. Overnight red crystals of CoBr2[N(SiMe2-
CH2PPh2)2]‚0.5C7H8 (10) formed. Yield: 0.20 g (84%). Anal. Calcd
for C30H36Br2CoNP2Si2‚0.5C7H8: C, 50.70; H, 5.08; N, 1.77. Found:
C, 51.45; H, 5.08; N, 1.77. 1H NMR (C6D6): δ 11.1 (br, 12H, SiMe2),
10.0 (s, 4H, p-Ph), 8.5 (v br, 8H, o-Ph), 1.2 (br, 8H, m-Ph), -58.0 (v
br, 4H, CH2). UV-vis: 338 (ꢀ ) 2900 M-1 cm-1), 432 (ꢀ ) 1370
M-1 cm-1), 510 (ꢀ ) 2070 M-1 cm-1) nm. MS: m/e 747 (M+), 666
(M+-Br). µeff ) 3.3 µB.
Reaction of CoBr[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (2) with Benzyl Bromide
in the Presence of TEMPO. To a 10 mL toluene solution of CoBr-
[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (2) (0.085 g, 0.14 mmol) was added 10 mg of
TEMPO and then excess (0.3 mL) benzyl bromide neat. Within 5 min
the solution had become dark red. After overnight stirring the solvent
was removed in vacuo and the residue was extracted with minimum
toluene, filtered through Celite, and dried again. A 1H NMR spectrum
of the residue confirmed the presence of N-benzyloxy-2,2,6,6-tetra-
methylpiperidine (4.82 ppm, OCH2Ph); a MS was also obtained (m/e
247 (M+)). No bibenzyl was observed.
Reaction of CoMe[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (4) with Benzyl Halides.
To a 10 mL toluene solution of CoMe[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (4) (0.13
g, 0.21 mmol) was added excess (0.3 mL) neat benzyl chloride. The
solution immediately turned orange and then green over a few minutes.
Overnight the green solution turned red-brown and a purple precipitate
had formed. In the case of neat benzyl bromide addition, the solution
immediately turned dark orange and then red over a few minutes; a
purple precipitate also formed overnight.102 After being stirred for one
more day the toluene was removed in vacuo to give a red oil, the major
product and a small amount of purple solid. The red oil (72% yield,
benzyl chloride; 80% yield, benzyl bromide) was identified as
CoX2[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (X ) Cl (8); X ) Br (10)) by UV-vis and
1H NMR spectroscopy.
Reaction of CoX2[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (8, 10) with Alkylating
Agents. For each reaction approximately 0.02 g (0.03 mmol) of
CoX2[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (8 or 10) was dissolved in 10 mL of toluene.
Three reactions, each with 1 equiv of MeLi, LiCH2SiMe3, and C3H5-
MgBr, at room temperature, all produced CoX[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (1
or 2), identified by its UV-vis spectrum. Addition of a further
equivalent produced a yellow color, consistent with the formation of
CoR[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2]. The target molecule Co(R)X[N(SiMe2CH2-
PPh2)2] was not detected. In the case of LiCH2SiMe3, the reaction was
carried out in an NMR tube (C7D8 and C6D6) and the peaks of 1, SiMe4
and Me3SiCH2CH2SiMe3 were observed at δ 0.0 and 0.1. Alkylations
with 1 equiv of MeLi or MeMgBr at low temperature (-78 °C) changed
the deep red solution to a yellow-orange product, which could
potentially be Co(Me)X[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2]. Upon being warmed to
room temperature these solutions turned green and CoX[N(SiMe2CH2-
PPh2)2] was identified. Addition of PEt3, CO, and py at low or room
temperature prior to alkylation did not alter the final results.
Kinetics Measurements. Kinetic measurements on alkyl halide
addition to cobalt(II) halides were performed by monitoring the growth
of an appropriate wavelength absorbance of the product in the UV-
vis spectrum; the band around 500 nm was generally used. Typical
metal-complex concentrations were approximately 10-4 M, yielding
∆OD values of approximately 1.5 absorbance units. Reactions were
conducted under pseudo-first-order conditions; the alkyl halide used
was present in at least a 10-fold excess. The rate constant kobs was
determined from the slope of the ln A vs time plot. The final second-
order rate constant k was determined from the slope of the straight
line plot of kobs vs alkyl halide concentration; pseudo-first-order rates
at at least three different concentrations of RX were measured.
Acknowledgment. Financial support for this research was
generously provided by NSERC of Canada in the form of
Research Grants to M.D.F. and R.C.T. and a 1967 Postgraduate
Scholarship to D.B.L.
Reaction of CoMe[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (4) with MeI: Synthesis
of CoI[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (3). To a 10 mL toluene solution of
CoMe[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (4) (0.055 g, 0.090 mmol) was added 1.2
equiv of MeI by quantitative vacuum transfer. Overnight the yellow
solution turned light green. After being stirred for one more day the
toluene was removed in vacuo to give a green oil which was layered
with hexanes to quickly yield green crystals of CoI[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2]
(3). Yield: 0.060 g (95%). Anal. Calcd for C30H36CoINP2Si2: C,
50.43; H, 5.08; N, 1.96. Found: C, 50.87; H, 5.00; N, 1.75. 1H NMR
(C6D6): δ 15.5 (br, 8H), -5 (br, 4H). UV-vis: 538 (ꢀ ) 227 M-1
cm-1), 634 (ꢀ ) 557 M-1 cm-1), 806 (ꢀ ) 288 M-1 cm-1) nm. MS:
m/e 714 (M+), 587 (M+ - I), 510 (M+ - I - C6H5). µeff ) 4.3 µB.
Reaction of CoMe[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (4) with MeBr. To a 10
mL toluene solution of CoMe[N(SiMe2CH2PPh2)2] (4) (0.097 g, 0.16
mmol) was added 1.2 equiv of MeBr by vacuum transfer. Overnight
the yellow solution turned light green. After one more day of stirring
the toluene was removed in vacuo to give a green oil that was extracted
in hexanes to give a yellow/green solution. Yellow and green crystals
formed overnight in the freezer. The yellow solid was identified as
Supporting Information Available: Full discussion of the
X-ray structure of 3 and its variable-temperature magnetic
behavior, details of the X-ray crystal structure analysis of 3,
for 3, 5, 10, and 13 tables of complete crystallographic data,
atomic coordinates and equivalent isotropic thermal parameters,
anisotropic thermal parameters, complete listings of bond lengths
and angles, and for 5 and 10 tables of torsion angles,
intermolecular contacts, and least-squares planes (60 pages,
print/PDF). See any current masthead page for ordering
information and Web access instructions.
JA9721632