title: Reactivity of "Eu(OiPr)2" with phenols: formation of linear Eu3, square pyramidal Eu5, cubic Eu8, and capped cubic Eu9 polymetallic europium complexes.
abstract: The direct reaction of europium with 2-propanol and phenols has been investigated under a variety of conditions. The reaction of europium metal with 2,6-dimethylphenol and 2,6-diisopropylphenol in 2-propanol at reflux revealed that polymetallic europium complexes could be generated by this method. Hx[Eu8O6(OC6H3Me2-2,6)12(OiPr)8], 1, and H5[Eu5O5(OC6H3iPr2-2,6)6(NCCH3)8], 2, were isolated by recrystallization in the presence of hexanes and acetonitrile, respectively, and characterized by X-ray crystallography. Complex 1 has a cubic arrangement of europium ions with face-bridging mu 4-O donor atoms, edge-bridging mu-O(phenoxide/phenol) ligands, and terminal O(isopropoxide/2-propanol) ligands. Complex 2 is mixed valent and has a square pyramidal europium core with four Eu(II) ions at the basal positions and one Eu(III) ion at the apex. Since these reactions gave complicated mixtures of products from which 1 and 2 could only be obtained in low yields, direct reactions under less forcing reaction conditions were investigated. Europium reacts slowly at room temperature to form arene-soluble divalent [Eu(OiPr)2(THF)x]n, 3. Complex 3 reacts with 2,6-dimethylphenol to form the arene-insoluble complex (H[Eu(OC6H3Me2)2(OiPr)])n, 4. Recrystallization of 4 in the presence of THF results in the crystallographically characterizable divalent trimetallic complex [Eu(OC6H3Me2-2,6)2(THF)2]3, 5, which has an unusual linear metal geometry. In the presence of HOiPr at ambient conditions in the glovebox, crystals of 5 slowly convert to the mixed valent H10[Eu8O8(OC6H3Me2-2,6)10(OiPr)2(THF)6], 6, which was found to have a cubic arrangement of europium atoms similar to 1 by X-ray crystallography. Complex 4, upon heating under vacuum, followed by reaction with THF, forms the arene-soluble divalent complex H18([Eu9O8(OC6H3Me2-2,6)10(THF)7][Eu9O9(OC6H3Me2-2,6)10(THF)6]), 7, which contains two types of capped cubic arrangements of europium ions in the solid state.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California 92697, USA. wevans@uci.edu
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Greci
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Ziller