What can NMR spectroscopy of selenoureas and phosphinidenes teach us about the π-accepting abilities of N-heterocyclic carbenes?

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Vummaleti, Sai V. C. and Nelson, David J. and Poater, Albert and Gomez-Suarez, Adrian and Cordes, David B. and Slawin, Alexandra M. Z. and Nolan, Steven P. and Cavallo, Luigi (2015) What can NMR spectroscopy of selenoureas and phosphinidenes teach us about the π-accepting abilities of N-heterocyclic carbenes? Chemical Science, 6 (3). pp. 1895-1904. ISSN 2041-6539 (https://doi.org/10.1039/C4SC03264K)

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Abstract

The electronic nature of the interaction of NHCs with metal centres is of interest when exploring their properties, how these properties influence those of metal complexes, and how these properties might depend on ligand structure. Selenourea and phosphinidene complexes have been proposed to allow the measurement of the [small pi]-accepting ability of NHCs, independent of their [sigma]-donating ability, via the collection of 77Se or 31P NMR spectra, respectively. Herein, the synthesis and characterisation of selenoureas derived from a range of imidazol-2-ylidenes, 4,5-dihydroimidazol-2-ylidenes and triazol-2-ylidenes are documented. Computational studies are used to explore the link between the shielding of the selenium centre and the electronic properties of the NHCs. Results show that [small delta]Se is correlated to the energy gap between a filled lone pair orbital on Se and the empty [small pi]* orbital corresponding to the Se-NHC bond. Bond energy decomposition analysis indicated no correlation between the orbital [sigma]-contribution to bonding and the chemical shielding, while a good correlation was found between the [small pi]-contribution to bonding and the chemical shielding, confirming that this technique is indeed able to quantify the ability of NHCs to accept [small pi]-electron density. Calculations conducted on phosphinidene adducts yielded similar results. With the link between [small delta]Se and [small delta]P and [small pi]-back bonding ability clearly established, these compounds represent useful ways in which to fully understand and quantify this aspect of the electronic properties of NHCs.

ORCID iDs

Vummaleti, Sai V. C., Nelson, David J. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9461-5182, Poater, Albert, Gomez-Suarez, Adrian, Cordes, David B., Slawin, Alexandra M. Z., Nolan, Steven P. and Cavallo, Luigi;
  • Item type:Article
    ID code:51198
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    1 March 2015
    Published
    2 January 2015
    Published Online
    31 December 2014
    Accepted
    Subjects:Science > Chemistry
    Department:Faculty of Science > Pure and Applied Chemistry
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:21 Jan 2015 16:13
    Last modified:16 Dec 2024 05:50
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/51198
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)