Additional Electron Donor Complexes

Patent 4,174,429 [54], Montedison characterized a large number of Mg/Ti/Cl/electron donor complexes based on a wide variety of ligands such as ethyl acetate, ethanol, ethyl benzoate, benzonitrile, ethylene carbonate, n-butyl acetate and diethyl ether, using TiClj prepared from hydrogen reduction of TiCl.  

In Example 7 of the 429 patent a complex with the composition of MgjTi2Clj2( thyl acetate) exhibited an ethylene polymerization activity of 167,000 gPE/gTi at 10 atm ethylene, 3 atm hydrogen at 85°C and a 4 hr polymerization time, which was 50 times more active than the titanium-only complex TiCljiethyl acetate, demonstrating the importance of the magnesium compound in improving polymerization activity. Results for complexes based on ethanol and benzonitrile are shown in Table 2.11. 

The structures of a wide variety of additional crystalline complexes based on titanium chlorides were discussed in a detailed publication by Greco and coworkers [57]. Complexes containing anions such as (TijCl ) TiClg and TiCyOPCCgHjlcy were isolated and evaluated as ethylene polymerization catalysts. 

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It is generally assumed that the Lewis acid in 3 decreases the charge on the metal, i.e., increases its electrophilicity. The removal of charge from the nickel allows additional electron donors to coordinate to the nickel atom, and reaction with, for example, 2 moles of carbon monoxide or 1 mole of 1,5-cyclooctadiene (COD) gives the insoluble, catalytically inactive and presumably ionic complexes 7 and 8. In contrast, 7r-allyl-nickel halides (1) add only 1 mole of carbon monoxide while they do not react with COD (52). 

Unlike carbon, the silicon atom may utilise vacant orbitals to expand its valence beyond four, to five or six, forming additional bonds with electron donors. This is shown by isolated amine complexes. The stabiUty of the organosHane amine complexes varies over a wide range and depends on the nature of the donor and acceptor (2). 

There is an interesting paradox in transition-metal chemistry which we have mentioned earlier - namely, that low and high oxidation state complexes both tend towards a covalency in the metal-ligand bonding. Low oxidation state complexes are stabilized by r-acceptor ligands which remove electron density from the electron rich metal center. High oxidation state complexes are stabilized by r-donor ligands which donate additional electron density towards the electron deficient metal centre. 

When the reaction of two compounds results in a product that contains all the mass of the two compounds, the product is called an addition compound. There are several kinds. In the rest of this chapter, we will discuss addition compounds in which the molecules of the starting materials remain more or less intact and weak bonds hold two or more molecules together. We can divide them into four broad classes electron donor-acceptor complexes, complexes formed by crown ethers and similar compounds, inclusion compounds, and catenanes. 

Iron hydride complexes can be synthesized by many routes. Some typical methods are listed in Scheme 2. Protonation of an anionic iron complex or substitution of hydride for one electron donor ligands, such as halides, affords hydride complexes. NaBH4 and L1A1H4 are generally used as the hydride source for the latter transformation. Oxidative addition of H2 and E-H to a low valent and unsaturated iron complex gives a hydride complex. Furthermore, p-hydride abstraction from an alkyl iron complex affords a hydride complex with olefin coordination. The last two reactions are frequently involved in catalytic cycles. 

More recently, Kim et al. synthesized dendritic [n] pseudorotaxane based on the stable charge-transfer complex formation inside cucurbit[8]uril (CB[8j) (Fig. 17) [59]. Reaction of triply branched molecule 47 containing an electron deficient bipyridinium unit on each branch, and three equiv of CB[8] forms branched [4] pseudorotaxane 48 which has been characterized by NMR and ESI mass spectrometry. Addition of three equivalents of electron-rich dihydrox-ynaphthalene 49 produces branched [4]rotaxane 50, which is stabilized by charge-transfer interactions between the bipyridinium unit and dihydroxy-naphthalene inside CB[8]. No dethreading of CB[8] is observed in solution. Reaction of [4] pseudorotaxane 48 with three equiv of triply branched molecule 51 having an electron donor unit on one arm and CB[6] threaded on a diaminobutane unit on each of two remaining arms produced dendritic [ 10] pseudorotaxane 52 which may be considered to be a second generation dendritic pseudorotaxane. 

In addition to halogen bonded complexes or ionic salts, it is also possible for sulfur and selenium electron donors to form complexes in which the electron donor atom inserts into the X2 bond, giving a hypervalent donor atom with a T-shaped geometry. It has been recently reported [147] that for dibromine and selenium, this type of complex is favored over halogen bonded complexes. While no purely halogen bonded complex is reported for dibromine, there is one complex (IRABEI) in which one selenium atom of each of several selenanthrene molecules in the asymmetric unit does insert into a Br2 bond, but for one of the molecules, the other selenium atom forms a halogen bond with a Br2 molecule to form a simple adduct (A). 

Exciplexes are complexes of the excited fluorophore molecule (which can be electron donor or acceptor) with the solvent molecule. Like many bimolecular processes, the formation of excimers and exciplexes are diffusion controlled processes. The fluorescence of these complexes is detected at relatively high concentrations of excited species, so a sufficient number of contacts should occur during the excited state lifetime and, hence, the characteristics of the dual emission depend strongly on the temperature and viscosity of solvents. A well-known example of exciplex is an excited state complex of anthracene and /V,/V-diethylaniline resulting from the transfer of an electron from an amine molecule to an excited anthracene. Molecules of anthracene in toluene fluoresce at 400 nm with contour having vibronic structure. An addition to the same solution of diethylaniline reveals quenching of anthracene accompanied by appearance of a broad, structureless fluorescence band of the exciplex near 500 nm (Fig. 2 )... 

Sapse et al.41b performed ab initio calculations on benzene-benzene as a model for the interaction between the a phenylalanine residue and the benzoyl portion of a typical folate compound. In addition, that study examined the complex formed hy a benzene ring and a polar serine which acts as a hydrogen donor, between a benzene ring and the amino group of a meta diamino-imidazole group (present in some anti-folates) and between serine as a hydrogen donor and the diamino-imidazole group as the electron donor. 

Having shown that the enol silyl ethers are effective electron donors for the [D, A] complex formation with various electron acceptors, let us now examine the electron-transfer activation (thermal and photochemical) of the donor/ acceptor complexes of tetranitromethane and quinones with enol silyl ethers for nitration and oxidative addition, respectively, via ion radicals as critical reactive intermediates. 

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