Phosphine/hydride complexes, osmium

Numerous phosphine and arsine complexes have been synthesized and characterized predominately with osmium in the +2, + 3 or +4 oxidation states. Examples include [OsCl2(dppm)2] [108341-10-2], [OsC13(P(CH3)2(C6H5)3] [20500-70-3], [0s2Cl6(dppm)2(0)] [87883-12-3], and [Os(AsC2Hb(C6Hb)2)4H2] [27498-19-7]. An example of an unusually low oxidation state is the Os(—2) complex K2[Os(PF3)4] [26876-74-4]. High coordination numbers and formal oxidation states are found in the phosphine hydrides, eg, [Os(P(CH3)(C(5HB)2)H6] [25895-55-0] and... 

Allyl hydride complexes of osmium are isolated from treatment of phosphine-substituted osmacyclobutane complex 114 with a thallium salt (Scheme 21). The reaction initially provides a mixture of an unstable -benzyl hydride complex 115 and the rf -allyl hydride complex 116 the -benzyl intermediate ultimately isomerizes to the latter complex, a very rare instance of isolable allylic hydride products generated from a starting metallacyclobutane <2004OM4858>. 

Organometallic compounds with a 17-electron configuration are often labile toward associative ligand exchange. Radical chain mechanisms are well established for phosphine substitution on metal carbonyl hydrides (Scheme 23), the 17-electron chain carrier being in most cases non hydridic. This mechanism, however, was also shown to operate for OsH2(CO)4 via the 17-electron hydride complex OsH(CO)4 [137]. Thus, phosphine addition to the radical prevails over the dimerization, which indeed occurs in the absence of phosphine [33] (section 6.5.7), and over other possible decomposition pathways. The second step of the chain propagation process in Scheme 23, for this osmium system, is another example of atom transfer to a hydride radical (section 6.5.6). 

We do not know exactly where the hydrogen binds at the active site. We would not expect it to be detectable by X-ray diffraction, even at 0.1 nm resolution. EPR (Van der Zwaan et al. 1985), ENDOR (Fan et al. 1991b) and electron spin-echo envelope modulation (ESEEM) (Chapman et al. 1988) spectroscopy have detected hyperfine interactions with exchangeable hydrous in the NiC state of the [NiFe] hydrogenase, but have not so far located the hydron. It could bind to one or both metal ions, either as a hydride or H2 complex. Transition-metal chemistry provides many examples of hydrides and H2 complexes (see, for example. Bender et al. 1997). These are mostly with higher-mass elements such as osmium or ruthenium, but iron can form them too. In order to stabilize the compounds, carbonyl and phosphine ligands are commonly used (Section 6). 

Osmium pentacarbonyl is a convenient precursor to other osmium carbonyl complexes. Hydrogenation gives the dihydride OsH2(CO)4. This hydride is not acidic with a p/fa of 18.5 but it can be deprotonated by strong bases to give [OsH(CO)4] and reduced by sodium (Scheme 23). Substitution of CO on Os(CO)5 by trialkyl or triarylphosphines, arsines, or stibenes gives Os(CO)4L or Os(CO)3L2. Other carbonyl phosphine complexes result from the reduction of osmium halides by alcohols in the presence of the tertiary phosphine. 

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