Synthesis, molecular and electronic structure, and reactions of a Zn-Hg-Zn bonded complex

Matthew P Blake; Nikolas Kaltsoyannis; Philip Mountford

doi:10.1039/c5cc00637f

Synthesis, molecular and electronic structure, and reactions of a Zn-Hg-Zn bonded complex

Chem Commun (Camb). 2015 Apr 4;51(26):5743-6. doi: 10.1039/c5cc00637f.

Authors

Matthew P Blake¹, Nikolas Kaltsoyannis, Philip Mountford

Affiliation

¹ Chemistry Research Laboratory, University of Oxford, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TA, UK. philip.mountford@chem.ox.ac.uk.

PMID: 25720674
DOI: 10.1039/c5cc00637f

Abstract

Reaction of ((Ar')NacNac)ZnI with potassium/mercury amalgam gave the trimetallic compound {((Ar')NacNac)Zn}2Hg (1) containing a Zn-Hg-Zn unit and the first example of a bond between two different Group 12 metals; DFT and QTAIM analyses suggest that 1 is best described as two formally Zn(I) atoms with a Hg(0) atom positioned between them; reactions of 1 with stoichiometric I2, FpI or Fp2 gave addition products of the type ((Ar')NacNac)ZnX (X = I, Fp) and Hg. (Ar')NacNac = HC{C(Me)N(2,6-C6H3(i)Pr2)}2; Fp = CpFe(CO)2.