Evidence for alkane coordination to an electron-rich uranium center

Ingrid Castro-Rodriguez; Hidetaka Nakai; Peter Gantzel; Lev N Zakharov; Arnold L Rheingold; Karsten Meyer

doi:10.1021/ja0379316

Evidence for alkane coordination to an electron-rich uranium center

J Am Chem Soc. 2003 Dec 24;125(51):15734-5. doi: 10.1021/ja0379316.

Authors

Ingrid Castro-Rodriguez¹, Hidetaka Nakai, Peter Gantzel, Lev N Zakharov, Arnold L Rheingold, Karsten Meyer

Affiliation

¹ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0358, La Jolla, California 92093-0358, USA.

PMID: 14677950
DOI: 10.1021/ja0379316

Abstract

A series of five uranium-alkane complexes of the general formula [(ArO)3tacn)U(alkane)].(cy-alkane) has been synthesized and crystallographically characterized. In all cases, X-ray diffraction studies revealed a pseudo-six-coordinate trivalent uranium core structure, [(ArO)3tacn)U], with a coordinated alkane ligand at the axial position. The average U-C bond distance to the bound alkane was determined to be 3.798 A, which is considerably shorter than the sum of the van der Waals radii of the U atom and a CH2 or CH3 unit (3.9 A). In all complexes, the alkane is coordinated in an eta2-H,C fashion.