Tris(pyrazolyl)borate (scorpionate) ligands can be considered as the most prolific ligands in contemporary coordination chemistry due to the availability of various steric and electronic substituents at the pyrazolyl rings that allow fine-tuning of the open-coordination site for metal centres. The thallium(I) complexes of anionic tridentate-chelating scorpionate ligands, namely [tris(3-mesityl-5-methyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl-κN2)hydroborato]thallium(I) monohydrate, [Tl(C39H46BN6)]·H2O, (I), and [bis(3-mesityl-5-methyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl-κN2)(5-mesityl-3-methyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl-κN2)hydroborato]thallium(I), [Tl(C39H46BN6)], (II), show a {TlIN3} coordination, with average TlI-N bond lengths of 2.53 and 2.55 Å in (I) and (II), respectively. The overall TlI coordination geometry is distorted trigonal pyramidal, with the average N-TlI-N angle being approximately 73° for both. The dihedral angle between the planes of the pyrazolyl and benzene rings of the mesityl group is 82° in (I), while the corresponding angles in (II) are in the range 64-104°. The structural differences between the two ligands are expected to contribute to the different reactivities of the transition metal coordination complexes towards activation of small molecules such as dioxygen and ethylene.
Keywords: coordination chemistry; crystal structure; diatomic ligand binding; nitrogen ligands; scorpionates; thallium(I) compounds; tris(pyrazolyl)hydroborate.