Carbene Complexes of Stannocenes

Inorg Chem. 2018 Jul 16;57(14):8050-8053. doi: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.8b01432. Epub 2018 Jun 28.

Abstract

Several stannocene carbene complexes, 3a-3g, were synthesized and examined in solution by NMR spectroscopy and in the solid state by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. In this new class of metallocene carbene complexes, coordination of the carbene to the tin atom was found to be comparably weak and mostly due to attractive dispersion forces, as indicated by density functional theory calculations. Furthermore, coordination of the N-heterocyclic carbenes results in a weakening of the Sn-Cp bonds, making these complexes very reactive and short-lived at room temperature.