Structure, Electronics and Reactivity of Ce(PNP) Complexes

Synthetic methods for the coordination of the monoanionic bis[2-(diisopropylphosphino)-4-methylphenyl]amido (PNP) ligand framework to the cerium(III) cation have been developed and applied for the isolation of a series of {(PNP)Ce} and {(PNP)2Ce} type complexes. The structures of the complexes were studied by X-ray diffraction and multinuclear NMR spectroscopy. We found that the cerium(III) ion can induce the elimination of one of the iPr groups at phosphorus to yield a new dianionic PNP tridentate framework (PNP-iPr) featuring a phosphido-donor functionality, which is bound to the cerium ion with the shortest known Ce−P bond of 2.7884(14) A for molecular compounds. The reaction of the complex [(PNP)Ce{N(SiMe3)2}2] (1) with Ph2CO gave the Ce-bound product of C−C coupling, -N(SiMe3)SiMe2CH2-CPh2O−, through the C−H bond activation of a SiMe3 group. 31P NMR spectroscopy was used to estimate the presence of a vacant coordination position at the cerium ion in the CeIII–PNP complexes by the examination of the δ(31P) shift recorded both in non-polar (C6D6) and polar ([D8]THF) solvents. Moreover, 31P NMR spectroscopy was also found to be a useful tool for the estimation of the Ce−P bond distances in {(PNP)CeIII} and {(PNP)2CeIII} systems. Electrochemical and computational studies for 1 and its lanthanum analogue containing a redox-innocent metal center revealed the stabilization of the CeIII oxidation state by the PNP ligand.