Molybdenum species triple bonds

Molybdenum imido alkylidene complexes have been prepared that contain bulky carboxylate ligands such as triphenylacetate [35]. Such species are isola-ble, perhaps in part because the carboxylate is bound to the metal in an r 2 fashion and the steric bulk prevents a carboxylate from bridging between metals. If carboxylates are counted as chelating three electron donors, and the linear imido ligand forms a pseudo triple bond to the metal, then bis(r 2-carboxylate) species are formally 18 electron complexes. They are poor catalysts for the metathesis of ordinary olefins, because the metal is electronically saturated unless one of the carboxylates slips to an ri1 coordination mode. However, they do react with terminal acetylenes of the propargylic type (see below). 

Surface organometallic species have also been used for the olefin metathesis reaction [10, 13]. In the case of molybdenum, the molecular complex N=Mo[CH2C(CH3)3]3 showed very little activity for the metathesis of simple olefins, presumably because the catalytically active carbene complex did not form under reaction conditions. The reaction of this complex with silica, however, proceeds by the addition of the silanol O-H bond over the Mo N triple bond leading first to a trisalkyl Mo complex which undergoes a-elimination of neopentane to produce a carbene complex which was found to exhibit a significant activity for the metathesis of internal olefins according to eq. (2) [10]. 

Monomeric species M OR-tert)x have been characterized for titanium, vanadium, chromium, zirconium, and hafnium (x = 4) and for niobium and tantalum (x == 5). With chromium it was found that limiting Cr(III) to coordination number 4 in the dimeric Cr2(OBu )e caused instability and a remarkable facility toward valency disproportionation or oxidation to the stable quadricovalent Cr(OBu )4 (8, 9). In contrast, molybdenum formed a stable dimeric tri-tert-butoxide (Bu O)3Mo=Mo-(OBu )3 which is diamagnetic and presumably bound by a metal-metal triple bond (10, II). Yet another interesting feature of chromium is the synthesis of a stable diamagnetic nitrosyl Cr(NO) (OBu )3 in which the nitric oxide is believed to act as a three-electron donor with formation of a four-coordinated low spin chromium (II) compound (12). The insta-bihty of Cr2(OBu )e and the stability of both Cr(NO) (OBu )3 and Cr(OBu )4 must result from the steric effects of the tertiary butoxo groups since the less bulky normal alkoxo groups form very stable polymeric [Cr(OR)3]a. compounds in which the Cr(III) has its usual coordination number of 6 (octahedral). 

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