Rhodium with oxidation states

Until recently, well-authenticated cases of the rhodium(II) oxidation state were rare, with the exception of the dinuclear carboxylates. They fall into two main classes, although there are other rhodium(II) complexes ... 

For rhodium the oxidation state + 3 for the metal is normal, although complexes with the metal in the +A and even the -l- 5 state are reported. 

The effect of the CFSE is expected to be even more marked in the case of the heavier elements because for them the crystal field splittings are much greater. As a result the +3 state is the most important one for both Rh and Ir and [M(H20)6] are the only simple aquo ions formed by these elements. With rr-acceptor ligands the +1 oxidation state is also well known for Rh and Ir. It is noticeable, however, that the similarity of these two heavier elements is less than is the case earlier in the transition series and, although rhodium resembles iridium more than cobalt, nevertheless there are significant differences. One example is provided by the +4 oxidation state which occurs to an appreciable extent in iridium but not in rhodium. (The ease with which Ir, Ir sometimes occurs... 

Similarity with cobalt is also apparent in the affinity of Rh and iH for ammonia and amines. The kinetic inertness of the ammines of Rh has led to the use of several of them in studies of the trans effect (p. 1163) in octahedral complexes, while the ammines of Ir are so stable as to withstand boiling in aqueous alkali. Stable complexes such as [M(C204)3], [M(acac)3] and [M(CN)5] are formed by all three metals. Force constants obtained from the infrared spectra of the hexacyano complexes indicate that the M--C bond strength increases in the order Co < Rh < [r. Like cobalt, rhodium too forms bridged superoxides such as the blue, paramagnetic, fCl(py)4Rh-02-Rh(py)4Cll produced by aerial oxidation of aqueous ethanolic solutions of RhCL and pyridine.In fact it seems likely that many of the species produced by oxidation of aqueous solutions of Rh and presumed to contain the metal in higher oxidation states, are actually superoxides of Rh . ... 

The pattern of iridium halides resembles rhodium, with the higher oxidation states only represented by fluorides. The instability of iridium(IV) halides, compared with stable complexes IrCl4L2 and the ions IrX (X = Cl, Br, I), though unexpected, finds parallels with other metals, such as plutonium. Preparations of the halides include [19]... 

Rhodium(III) forms a wide range of complexes with tertiary phosphines and arsines [108, 109], though in some cases other oxidation states are possible. Table 2.5 summarizes the complexes produced from reaction of RhCl3 with stoichiometric quantities of the phosphine. 

Many carbonyl and carbonyl metallate complexes of the second and third row, in low oxidation states, are basic in nature and, for this reason, adequate intermediates for the formation of metal— metal bonds of a donor-acceptor nature. Furthermore, the structural similarity and isolobal relationship between the proton and group 11 cations has lead to the synthesis of a high number of cluster complexes with silver—metal bonds.1534"1535 Thus, silver(I) binds to ruthenium,15 1556 osmium,1557-1560 rhodium,1561,1562 iron,1563-1572 cobalt,1573 chromium, molybdenum, or tungsten,1574-1576 rhe-nium, niobium or tantalum, or nickel. Some examples are shown in Figure 17. 

The most common oxidation state of rhodium in aqueous solution is low-spin 4d > rhodium(III). The lower oxidation state rhodium(I) has been extensively studied in organic solvents. By contrast, in aqueous solutions few studies of the lower oxidation states of rhodium have been made Gray with Mann, Sigal and... 

It seems worth pointing out, that 137 and human semm albumin contain no pendant phosphines and the donor atoms in the complexes formed with rhodium can be only O (137) or O, N and perhaps S (HSA), which are not the most suitable for stabilizing low oxidation state metal ions. Still these macroligands gave active and stable catalysts with rhodium, which shows that perhaps in the high local concentration provided by the polymer even these hard donor atoms are able to save the metal ion against hydrolysis or other deterioration. 

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