title: Influence of bonding mode of the linkers in the electronic communication of molecular pairs having dimolybdenum units linked by pseudohalides.
abstract: Depending on conditions the reactions of [Mo(2)(cis-DAniF)(2)(NCCH(3))(4)](BF(4))(2) (DAniF = N,N'-di-p-anisylformamidinate) with solutions containing thiocyanate anions lead to two compounds: a quadruple-bonded dinuclear species 1, (Bu(n)(4)N)(2)[Mo(2)(cis-DAniF)(2)(NCS)(4)], and a molecular pair 3, [Mo(2)(cis-DAniF)(2)](2)(mu(1,3)-NCS)(4). The latter has a cuboidal structure having two (cis-DAniF)(2)Mo(2)(2+) units, [Mo(2)], with four thiocyanate groups bridging two [Mo(2)] units in an end-to-end fashion in which the N and S atoms serve as the bridging units. On the contrary, the structure of the cyanate isomer, [Mo(2)(cis-DAniF)(2)](2)(mu(1,1)-NCO)(4) (2), shows an end-on binding of the cyanate linkers. Various physical measurements of 2 and its oxidized species 2.PF(6) indicate that there is strong electronic communication between the two dimetal cores. For 1, two reversible oxidation processes were observed in the cyclic voltammogram corresponding to the successive oxidation to 1(+) and an uncommon 1(2+) species that has a triple-bonded Mo(2)(6+) core. DFT calculations indicate that the antibonding character between the Mo-Mo delta orbitals and thiocyanate p orbitals plays a very important role in elevating the HOMO delta orbital energy that allows formation of the dication. A selenium isomer of 3 was also studied. In both the thiocyanate and selenocyanate bridged dimers of dimers, in which the pseudohalide bridges bind the two dimetal units in an end-to-end fashion, long separations between the dimetal units are observed, and these generate very weak electronic interactions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, P.O. Box 3012, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77842-3012, USA.
authors.forename: F Albert
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Cotton
authors.forename: Carlos A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Murillo
authors.forename: Qinliang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhao