Isolation and X-ray crystal structure analysis of a hydrazine-containing rhodium catalyst, [(MeOH)2H]+[RhCl4(PPh3)(NHMeNHMe)]−

Abstract Reaction of RhCl(PPh 3 ) 3 with N,N′-dimethylhydrazine dihydrochloride in methanol gives the Rh III complex [(MeOH) 2 H] [RhCl 4 ,(PPh 3 )(NHMeNHMe)] which has been characterized by X-ray crystallography. The complex anion has an octahedral structure with the phosphine and hydrazine ligands mutually trans , and is formulated as a rhodium(III) species on the basis of the bond lengths in the structure and its diamagnetism. The compensating cation is a proton which, although not unequivocally identified in the structure, is presumed to be present as a dimethanolium unit, in which the O O distance is 2.67 A.