title: Trinuclear alkyl hydrido rare-earth complexes supported by amidopyridinato ligands: synthesis, structures, C-Si bond activation and catalytic activity in ethylene polymerization.
abstract: The reaction of Ap(9Me)Lu(CH2SiMe3)2(thf) (Ap(9Me) = (2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)[6-(2,4,6-triisopropylphenyl)pyridine-2-yl]amido ligand) with two molar equivalents of PhSiH3 affords a trinuclear alkyl-hydrido cluster [(Ap(9Me)Lu)3(μ(2)-H)3(μ(3)-H)2(CH2SiMe3)(thf)2]. The analogous reactions with Ap(9Me)Ln(CH2SiMe3)2(thf) (Ln = Y, Yb) are more complex and result in the formation of mixtures of two types of trinuclear alkyl-hydrido complexes [(Ap(9Me)Ln)3(μ(2)-H)3(μ(3)-H)2(CH2SiMe3)(thf)2] and [(Ap(9Me)Ln)3(μ(2)-H)3(μ(3)-H)2(CH2SiH2Ph)(thf)2] differing in the alkyl group. The DFT calculations of [(Ap*Y)3(μ(2)-H)3(μ(3)-H)2(CH2SiMe3)(thf)2] (Ap* = (2,6-diisopropylphenyl)[6-(2,4,6-triisopropylphenyl)pyridine-2-yl]amido ligand) confirm localization of the HOMO on the Ap*-Y(1A)-CH2SiMe3 fragment, thus explaining its enhanced reactivity. Analysis of the electron density distribution reveals the Y-H and H-H bonding interactions in the (Y)3(μ(2)-H)3(μ(3)-H)2 moiety. The NMR studies of diamagnetic complexes [(Ap(9Me)Lu)3(μ(2)-H)3(μ(3)-H)2(CH2SiMe3)(thf)2] and [(Ap*Y)3(μ(2)-H)3(μ(3)-H)2(CH2SiMe3)(thf)2] demonstrated that the trinuclear cores are retained in the solution and revealed exchange between μ(3)- and μ(2)-bridging hydrido ligands. Complexes [(Ap*Ln)3(μ(2)-H)3(μ(3)-H)2(CH2SiMe3)(thf)2], the cationic yttrium hydrido cluster [(Ap*Y)3(μ(2)-H)3(μ(3)-H)2(thf)3](+)[B(C6F5)4](-) as well as [(Ap(9Me)Ln)3(μ(2)-H)3(μ(3)-H)2(CH2SiMe3)(thf)2] proved to be active in catalysis of ethylene polymerization under mild conditions.
authors.affiliation: G. A. Razuvaev Institute of Organometallic Chemistry of Russian Academy of Sciences, 49 Tropinina str., 603950, Nizhny Novgorod, GSP-445, Russia. trif@iomc.ras.ru.
authors.forename: Dmitry M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Lyubov
authors.forename: Anton V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Cherkasov
authors.forename: Georgy K
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Fukin
authors.forename: Sergey Yu
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Ketkov
authors.forename: Andrey S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Shavyrin
authors.forename: Alexander A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Trifonov