title: Preparation of tungsten alkyl alkylidene alkylidyne complexes and kinetic studies of their formation.
abstract: An equilibrium mixture of alkyl alkylidyne W(CH2SiMe3)3(CSiMe3)(PMe3) (1a) and its bis(alkylidene) tautomer W(CH2SiMe3)2(=CHSiMe3)2(PMe3) (1b) has been found to undergo an alpha-hydrogen abstraction reaction in the presence of PMe3 to form alkyl alkylidene alkylidyne W(CH2SiMe3)(=CHSiMe3)(CSiMe3)(PMe3)2 (2). In the presence of PMe3, the formation of 2 follows first-order kinetics, and the observed rate constant was found to be independent of the concentration of PMe3. The activation parameters for the formation of 2 are Delta H = 28.3(1.7) kcal/mol and Delta S = 3(5) eu. In the presence of PMe2Ph, an equilibrium mixture of W(CH2SiMe3)3(CSiMe3)(PMe2Ph) (3a) and its bis(alkylidene) tautomer W(CH2SiMe3)2(=CHSiMe3)2(PMe2Ph) (3b) was similarly converted to W(CH2SiMe3)(=CHSiMe3)(CSiMe3)(PMe2Ph)2 (4). The observed rate of this reaction was also independent of the concentration of PMe2Ph. These observations suggest a pathway in which the tautomeric mixtures 1a,b and 3a,b undergo rate-determining, alpha-hydrogen abstraction, followed by phosphine coordination, resulting in the formation of the alkyl alkylidene alkylidyne complexes 2 and 4.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA.
authors.forename: Laurel A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Morton
authors.forename: Shujian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: He
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: Zi-Ling
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Xue