The first solid phase synthesis of pincer palladium complexes

Both dimeric μ-chlorine bridged and monomeric bidentate Pd(II) complexes with SCN hybrid pincer-type ligands, bearing thiophosphoryl group and imine moiety of the benzothiazole ring as coordination arms, formed in the reaction with (PhCN)2PdCl2 under kinetic control (20 °C, dichloromethane solution) were readily converted into the corresponding SCN pincer complexes via solid phase synthesis (neat, 200 °C, 15 min). The synthesis of pincer complexes can be performed also by heating (200 °C, 5 min) of a homogeneous mixture of the initial reactants, namely, the ligand and (PhCN)2PdCl2, obtained by manual grinding in a mortar. The efficacy of solid phase approaches is comparable with the analogous synthesis in solutions under severe conditions.