Cobalt , labile groups

As with rhodium (and cobalt), introduction of five ammonia molecules is relatively straightforward, but the sixth substitution is difficult, requiring more forcing conditions. One versatile route involves the formation of the pentammine triflate complex ion [Ir(NH3)5(03SCF3)]2+, where the labile triflate group is readily replaced by water, then by a range of anionic ligands [148]. 

This account is concerned with the rate and mechanism of the important group of reactions involving metal complex formation. Since the bulk of the studies have been performed in aqueous solution, the reaction will generally refer, specifically, to the replacement of water in the coordination sphere of the metal ion, usually octahedral, by another ligand. The participation of outer sphere complexes (ion pair formation) as intermediates in the formation of inner sphere complexes has been considered for some time (122). Thermodynamic, and kinetic studies of the slowly reacting cobalt(III) and chromium(III) complexes (45, 122) indicate active participation of outer sphere complexes. However, the role of outer sphere complexes in the reactions of labile metal complexes and their general importance in complex formation (33, 34, 41, 111) had to await modern techniques for the study of very rapid reactions. Little evidence has appeared so far for direct participation of the... 

Of the cyclic olefins, norbornadiene replaces two CO groups from one Co to yield a labile complex 159, 160, 235), cyclooctatetraene replaces the axial CO ligands from all three cobalt atoms 53) and is itself replaced by other Lewis bases 330), and cyclopentadiene forms the unusual complex [95] with Co3(CO)gCMe 159,160). A few catalytic reactions were observed with methinyltricobalt enneacarbonyls including the dimerization of norbornadiene 160, 235) and the polymerization of functional olefins 312) with different Co3(CO)9CX. 

The dehydration and deamination reactions appear to operate in a parallel fashion and will be considered together. Schrauzer and Silbert propose a base-catalyzed cleavage of the carbon-cobalt bond in the B12-catalyzed diol dehydration reaction as shown in Fig. 17 (81), based on demonstrated lability of the beta hydrogens in alkyl cobaloximes with electronegative groups in this position. 

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