title: Extreme metal carbonyl back bonding in cyclopentadienylthorium carbonyls generates bridging C2O2 ligands by carbonyl coupling.
abstract: Laboratory studies of the interaction of carbon monoxide with organoactinides result in the formation of isolable complexes such as Cp3UCO derivatives (Cp = cyclopentadienyl) as well as coupling reactions to give derivatives of the oligomeric anions C(n)O(n)(2-) (n = 2, 3, 4). To gain some insight into actinide carbonyl chemistry, binuclear cyclopentadienylthorium carbonyls Cp2Th2(CO)n (n = 2 to 5) as model compounds have been investigated using density functional theory. The most favorable such structures in terms of energy and thermochemistry are the tricarbonyl Cp2Th2(η(2)-μ-CO)3 having three four-electron donor bridging carbonyl groups and the tetracarbonyl Cp2Th2(η(4)-μ-C2O2)(η(2)-μ-CO)2 having not only two four-electron donor bridging carbonyl groups but also a bridging ethynediolate ligand formed by coupling two CO groups through C-C bond formation. The bridging infrared ν(CO) frequencies ranging from 1140 to 1560 cm(-1) in these Cp2Th2(CO)n (n = 3, 4) derivatives indicate extremely strong Th→CO back bonding in these structures, corresponding to formally dianionic CO(2-) and C2O2(2-) ligands and the favorable +4 thorium oxidation state. A characteristic of the Cp2Th2(η(2)-μ-CO)3 and Cp2Th2(η(4)-μ-C2O2)(η(2)-μ-CO)2 structures is their ability to add terminal CO groups, preferably to the thorium atom bonded to the fewest oxygen atoms. These terminal CO groups exhibit ν(CO) frequencies in a similar range as terminal CO groups in d-block metal carbonyls. However, these terminal CO groups are relatively weakly bonded to the thorium atoms as indicated by predicted CO dissociation energies of 14 kcal/mol for Cp2Th2(CO)5. Two low energy structures for the dicarbonyl Cp2Th2(CO)2 are found with two separate four-electron donor bridging CO groups and relatively short Th-Th distances of 3.3 to 3.4 Å suggesting formal single bonds and +3 thorium formal oxidation states. However, a QTAIM analysis of this formal Th-Th bond does not reveal a bond critical point thus suggesting a multicenter bonding model involving the bridging CO groups.
authors.affiliation: School of Physics and Chemistry, Research Center for Advanced Computation, Xihua University, Chengdu, China 610039.
authors.forename: Huidong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Weiguo
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: R Bruce
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: Henry F
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Schaefer