Inorganic Chemistry, Vol.53, No.20, 11185-11196, 2014
Role of Axial Base Coordination in Isonitrile Binding and Chalcogen Atom Transfer to Vanadium(III) Complexes
The enthalpy of oxygen atom transfer (OAT) to V[(Me3SiNCH2CH2)(3)N], 1, forming OV[(Me3SiNCH2CH2)(3)N], 1-O, and the enthalpies of sulfur atom transfer (SAT) to 1 and V(N[t-Bu]Ar)(3), 2 (Ar = 3,5-C6H3Me2), forming the corresponding sulfides SV[(Me3SiNCH2CH2)(3)N], 1-S, and SV(N[t-Bu]Ar)(3), 2-S, have been measured by solution calorimetry in toluene solution using dbabhNO (dbabhNO = 7-nitroso-2,3:5,6-dibenzo-7-azabicyclo[2.2.1]hepta-2,5-diene) and Ph3SbS as chalcogen atom transfer reagents. The V-O BDE in 1-O is 6.3 +/- 3.2 kcal.mol(-1) lower than the previously reported value for 2-O and the V-S BDE in 1-S is 3.3 +/- 3.1 kcal.mol(-1) lower than that in 2-S. These differences are attributed primarily to a weakening of the V-Naxial bond present in complexes of 1 upon oxidation. The rate of reaction of 1 with dbabhNO has been studied by low temperature stopped-flow kinetics. Rate constants for OAT are over 20 times greater than those reported for 2. Adamantyl isonitrile (AdNC) binds rapidly and quantitatively to both 1 and 2 forming high spin adducts of V(III). The enthalpies of ligand addition to 1 and 2 in toluene solution are -19.9 +/- 0.6 and -17.1 +/- 0.7 kcal.mol(-1), respectively. The more exothermic ligand addition to 1 as compared to 2 is opposite to what was observed for OAT and SAT. This is attributed to less weakening of the V-Naxial bond in ligand binding as opposed to chalcogen atom transfer and is in keeping with structural data and computations. The structures of 1, 1-O, 1-S, 1-CNAd, and 2-CNAd have been determined by X-ray crystallography and are reported.