Tantalum carbonylate anions

Compounds containing niobium or tantalum in negative formal oxidation states -I and -III are mainly metal carbonyl anions. Although these are organometallic derivatives, the report of efficient procedures for the synthesis of [M(CO)6] since the review of Labinger8 merits mention, as it can be anticipated that these highly reduced and reactive species will be important precursors of a large variety of new coordination compounds and metal clusters. 

Homoleptic platinum carbonyl anions, characteristics, 8, 410 Homoleptic tantalum complexes, preparation and characteristics, 5, 108... 

A recent review gives a chronological survey of the syntheses and characterizations of homoleptic mononuclear metal-carbonyl (see Carbonyl Complexes of the Transition Metals) anions. [M(CO)6] is a key precursor to niobium and tantalum carbonyls. More reliable synthesis of [Ta(CO)6] ... 

Mononuclear Carbonyl Derivatives. - Two further reports on the chemistry of highly reduced carbonylate anions have appeared. [V(C0)s] " and [VH(C0)5] have been characterised by C, V and H n.m.r. spectroscopies, and the corresponding tantalum carbonylate... 

The crystal structures of both (PPN)[M(CO)6] derivatives have been determined.717 The coordination polyhedron is octahedral (Nb—C 2.098(5) A CNbC 89.2(2)°). The PPN moiety is constrained to be centrosymmetric, and thus linear. These compounds correspond to the lowest oxidation state of niobium and tantalum for which structural data are available. A single v(CO) is found in the IR (1854 and 1852 cm-1 for Nb and Ta respectively). Comparable spectra are observed for Na[M(CO)6] in pyridine, but in solvents of lower dielectric constants such as tetrahydrofuran, additional bands attributed to distortion of the anion by the countercation are observed. [Nb(CO)6] appears to be the most labile carbonyl of the group VA analogs. 

Tantalum enolate chemistry shows the dichotomy for the carbonylation reaction " of Cp Ta(CH2R)Cl3 with CO which results in the mono-THF adduct of rj -acyl complex Cp Ta(0=CCH2R)Cl3(THF) for R = t-Bu (the acyl group is anionic) but the isomeric enolate Cp Ta((Z)-7j -OCH=CHR)Cl3 for R = p-Tol. This invites the question of the relative thermodynamic stabilities of metal complexes of RCH2CO and RCHCHO and additionally the question of Z vs. E enolate stabilities. Only for organometalhc compounds (X = [M]) do we find examples where RCH2COX is less stable than RCH=CHOX. 

Niobium and tantalum halides yield salts of the 18 electron anions Nb(CO) and Ta(CO), but no neutral binary carbonyls have been isolated. 

Information on the carbonyl chemistry of niobium and tantalum is, to date, very meager. The main difficulty appears to be the reduction of the usual pentavalent derivatives of these metals to the very low formal oxidation states of metal carbonyl derivatives. Nevertheless, the yellow anions [M(C0)6] (M = Nb, Ta) have been obtained by a method analogous to, but more difficult than, one of the preparations of the [VCCO) ]" anion. The method involves reduction of the pentachlorides with sodium metal in diglyme in the presence of high pressures of carbon monoxide (63). The niobium and tantalum derivatives are much more air-sensitive than the analogous vanadium derivative. The niobium derivative has not yet been obtained analytically pure (63). No chemistry of the [Nb(CO)J and the [Ta(CO)6] ions has been reported, even conversion to the neutral carbonyl derivatives [M(CO) (M = Nb or Ta = 1 or 2) or to the carbonyl hydride derivatives HM(CO)6 (M = Nb, Ta) still presenting unsolved problems. 

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