Transition metal spectroscopic techniques

No isolable and fully characterized examples of a transition metal complex with a coordinated alkane have been reported. With typical metal-alkane bond energies <15kcal/mol, isolation of these complexes is a substantial challenge. However, spectroscopic methods have been incorporated to directly observe alkane coordination. Initially, fast IR methods were utilized to study transient alkane coordination. More recently, novel NMR techniques have been developed to directly observe the coordination of alkanes to transition metals. Both techniques have afforded valuable insight into metal-hydrocarbon bonding. 

Unlike nitric oxide, NO, the monomeric radical sulfur nitride, NS, is only known as a short-lived intermediate in the gas phase. Nevertheless the properties of this important diatomic molecule have been thoroughly investigated by a variety of spectroscopic and other physical techniques (Section 5.2.1). The NS molecule is stabilized by coordination to a transition metal and a large number of complexes, primarily with metals from Groups 6, 7, 8 and 9, are known. Several detailed reviews of the topic have been published. ... 

As already mentioned, complexes of chromium(iii), cobalt(iii), rhodium(iii) and iridium(iii) are particularly inert, with substitution reactions often taking many hours or days under relatively forcing conditions. The majority of kinetic studies on the reactions of transition-metal complexes have been performed on complexes of these metal ions. This is for two reasons. Firstly, the rates of reactions are comparable to those in organic chemistry, and the techniques which have been developed for the investigation of such reactions are readily available and appropriate. The time scales of minutes to days are compatible with relatively slow spectroscopic techniques. The second reason is associated with the kinetic inertness of the products. If the products are non-labile, valuable stereochemical information about the course of the substitution reaction may be obtained. Much is known about the stereochemistry of ligand substitution reactions of cobalt(iii) complexes, from which certain inferences about the nature of the intermediates or transition states involved may be drawn. This is also the case for substitution reactions of square-planar complexes of platinum(ii), where study has led to the development of rules to predict the stereochemical course of reactions at this centre. 

Some of the transition metal macrocycles adsorbed on electrode surfaces are of special Interest because of their high catalytic activity for dloxygen reduction. The Interaction of the adsorbed macrocycles with the substrate and their orientation are of Importance In understanding the factors controlling their catalytic activity. In situ spectroscopic techniques which have been used to examine these electrocatalytlc layers Include visible reflectance spectroscopy surface enhanced and resonant Raman and Mossbauer effect spectroscopy. This paper Is focused principally on the cobalt and Iron phthalocyanlnes on silver and carbon electrode substrates. 

Of special Interest as O2 reduction electrocatalysts are the transition metal macrocycles In the form of layers adsorptlvely attached, chemically bonded or simply physically deposited on an electrode substrate Some of these complexes catalyze the 4-electron reduction of O2 to H2O or 0H while others catalyze principally the 2-electron reduction to the peroxide and/or the peroxide elimination reactions. Various situ spectroscopic techniques have been used to examine the state of these transition metal macrocycle layers on carbon, graphite and metal substrates under various electrochemical conditions. These techniques have Included (a) visible reflectance spectroscopy (b) laser Raman spectroscopy, utilizing surface enhanced Raman scattering and resonant Raman and (c) Mossbauer spectroscopy. This paper will focus on principally the cobalt and Iron phthalocyanlnes and porphyrins. 

Considerable progress has been made recently In the development of In situ spectroscopic techniques applicable to the study of transition metal macrocycles adsorbed at submonolayer coverages onto electrode surfaces. These have been aimed at gaining Insight into the nature of the Interactions of these compounds with the surface and with 02 Most of the attention In the authors laboratory has been focused on Fe- and Co-TsPc, although some preliminary results have already been obtained for some Iron and cobalt porphyrins. The main conclusions obtained from these Investigations will be outlined In the following sections. 

Transition metal oxides, rare earth oxides and various metal complexes deposited on their surface are typical phases of DeNO catalysts that lead to redox properties. For each of these phases, complementary tools exist for a proper characterization of the metal coordination number, oxidation state or nuclearity. Among all the techniques such as EPR [80], UV-vis [81] and IR, Raman, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and NMR, recently reviewed [82] for their application in the study of supported molecular metal complexes, Raman and IR spectroscopies are the only ones we will focus on. The major advantages offered by these spectroscopic techniques are that (1) they can detect XRD inactive amorphous surface metal oxide phases as well as crystalline nanophases and (2) they are able to collect information under various environmental conditions [83], We will describe their contributions to the study of both the support (oxide) and the deposited phase (metal complex). 

Terminal methylene complexes are relatively rare—less than 10 such compounds have been isolated and about as many again have been characterized by spectroscopic techniques only. The methylene complexes previously reported fall into two groups, (i) neutral complexes of the early transition metals (e.g., Ti, Ta) and (ii) cationic complexes of the later transition metals (e.g., Re, Fe). The osmium complex 47 is important, then, as it is a new example extending the neutral group to the later transition metals. Compound 47 is the prototype for the series Os(=CHR)Cl(NO)(PPh3)2 and is one of only three terminal methylene complexes to be structurally characterized by X-ray crystallography (see Section IV,B). 

Spectroscopic techniques such as electron spin resonance (ESR) offer the possibility to "probe" the chemical environment of the interlayer regions. With the ESR technique, an appropriate paramagnetic ion or molecule is allowed to penetrate the interlayer, and chemical information is deduced from the ESR spectrum. Transition metal ions, such as Cu2+, and nitroxide radical cations, such as TEMPAMINE (4-amino-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine N-oxide) have been used as probes in this manner (6-14). Since ESR is a sensitive and non-destructive method, investigations of small quantities of cations on layer silicate clays at various stages... 

Most stable ground-state molecules contain closed-shell electron configurations with a completely filled valence shell in which all molecular orbitals are doubly occupied or empty. Radicals, on the other hand, have an odd number of electrons and are therefore paramagnetic species. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), sometimes called electron spin resonance (ESR), is a spectroscopic technique used to study species with one or more unpaired electrons, such as those found in free radicals, triplets (in the solid phase) and some inorganic complexes of transition-metal ions. 

For the rational design of transition metal catalyzed reactions, as well as for fine-tuning, it is vital to know about the catalytic mechanism in as much detail as possible. Apart from kinetic measurements, the only way to learn about mechanistic details is direct spectroscopic observation of reactive intermediates. In this chapter, we have demonstrated that NMR spectroscopy is an invaluable tool in this respect. In combination with other physicochemical effects (such as parahydrogen induced nuclear polarization) even reactive intermediates, which are present at only very low concentrations, can be observed and fully characterized. Therefore, it might be worthwhile not only to apply standard experiments, but to go and exploit some of the more exotic techniques that are now available and ready to use. The successful story of homogeneous hydrogenation with rhodium catalysts demonstrates impressively that this really might be worth the effort. 

Table 10.1 lists kinetic data for the protonation of transition metal hydrides obtained through various spectroscopic (NMR, UV, IR) and electrochemical methods using stopped-flow mixing techniques. Most kinetic experiments have... 

The intermediate formation of alkyl peroxide complexes has been postulated, and in several cases observed with spectroscopic and spectrometric techniques in several selective procedures based on metal catalyzed oxidation with hydroperoxides, Ti and V ions being among the transition metals most widely used for this purpose. However, to date the few examples of alkyl peroxide complexes isolated and characterized in the solid state refer to (dipic)V0(00Bu-f)(H20) 8, synthesized by Mimoun and coworkers in 1983, and to a dimeric Ti complex [((/7 -OOBu-f)titanatrane)2(CH2Cl2)3] 9, synthesized by Boche and coworkers. ... 

The nature of the transition metal ion in the structure was further investigated by means of spectroscopic techniques. Fundamental studies on single crystals provided evidence for the presence of divalent Mn in Al(2) tetrahedral sites of both P-AI2O3 and magnetoplumbite-substituted materials.39,47... 

To implement an easy and automated means for chemical vapour generation procedures (hydride generation for arsenic, selenium, etc., and cold vapour mercury), which allows for a reduction on the interferences caused by first-row transition metals (such as copper and nickel). FI methods may be readily coupled with almost all the atomic-based spectroscopic techniques (including graphite furnace atomisers). 

Its molecular structure (Figure 37) consists of a centrosymmetric dimer with a bridging H2Al(OR)( U-OR)2Al(OR)H2 entity. The Ta atoms are approximately square pyramidal, with the four phosphorus atoms forming the basal plane (Ta lies 0.64 A out of it). The relatively short Ta—A1 distances are comparable to those found in other transition metal aluminum complexes (Ta—Al 2.79-3.13 A). The hydrogen atoms have not been located, but were evidenced by chemical and spectroscopic techniques (IR 1605, 1540 cm 1 HNMR 16.30p.p.m.). The Ta—(ju-H2)A1 unit is relatively stable, and (54) is inert to carbon monoxide or trimethylamine. It is a poor catalyst in the isomerization of 1-pentene. Formation of complexes analogous to (54) may explain the low yields often obtained from alkoxoaluminohy-drides and metal halides. 

Not mentioned in Table 2 (and often not in the original papers ) is the optical form (chirality) of the amino acids used. All the amino acids, except for glycine (R = H), contain an asymmetric carbon atom (the C atom). In the majority of cases the optical form used, whether l, d or racemic dl, makes little difference to the stability constants, but there are some notable exceptions (vide infra). Examination of the data in Table 2 reveals (i) that the order of stability constants for the divalent transition metal ions follows the Irving-Williams series (ii) that for the divalent transition metal ions, with excess amino acid present at neutral pH, the predominant spedes is the neutral chelated M(aa)2 complex (iii) that the species formed reflect the stereochemical preferences of the metal ions, e.g. for Cu 1 a 2 1 complex readily forms but not a 3 1 ligand metal complex (see Volume 5, Chapter 53). Confirmation of the species proposed from analysis of potentiometric data and information on the mode of bonding in solution has involved the use of an impressive array of spectroscopic techniques, e.g. UV/visible, IR, ESR, NMR, CD and MCD (magnetic circular dichroism). 

There are many computational investigations of transition metal oxides, see, e.g., the recent review by Harrison [7]. Some studies have included the whole sequence of 3d metal oxides. In one of these studies, Bauschlicher and Maitre [17], employed different high-level ab initio methods. It was found that ScO - MnO and CuO were well described by single-reference based techniques and that the CCSD(T) method gave spectroscopic constants (re, uje and D0) in good agreement with experiments. For FeO - NiO multi-reference based techniques (CASSCF/ICACPF) were necessary to get good results. 

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