Preparation, Molecular and Electronic Structures, and Magnetic Properties of Face-Sharing Bioctahedral Titanium(III) Compounds: [PPh(4)][Ti(2)(&mgr;-Cl)(3)Cl(4)(PR(3))(2)].

Reduction of TiCl(4) with 1 equiv of HSnBu(3) followed by addition of [PPh(4)]Cl and then PR(3) leads to two new dinuclear titanium(III) compounds, [PPh(4)][Ti(2)(&mgr;-Cl)(3)Cl(4)(PR(3))(2)] (R = Et and R(3) = Me(2)Ph), both of which contain an anion with the face-sharing bioctahedral type structure. Their crystal structures are reported. [PPh(4)][Ti(2)(&mgr;-Cl)(3)Cl(4)(PEt(3))(2)].2CH(2)Cl(2) crystallized in the triclinic space group P&onemacr;. Cell dimensions: a = 12.461(1) Å, b = 20.301(8) Å, c = 11.507(5) Å, alpha = 91.44 degrees, beta = 113.27(1) degrees, gamma = 104.27(2) degrees, and Z = 2. The distance between titanium atoms is 3.031(2) Å. [PPh(4)][Ti(2)(&mgr;-Cl)(3)Cl(4)(PMe(2)Ph)(2)].CH(2)Cl(2) also crystallized in the triclinic space group P&onemacr; with cell dimensitions a = 11.635(4) Å, b = 19.544(3) Å, c = 11.480(3) Å, alpha = 100.69(2) degrees, beta = 109.70(1) degrees, gamma = 95.08(2) degrees, and Z = 2. The distance between titanium atoms in this compound is 2.942(1) Å. Variable temperature magnetic susceptibilities were measured for [PPh(4)][Ti(2)(&mgr;-Cl)(3)Cl(4)(PEt(3))(2)]. Electronic structure calculations were carried out for a model ion, [Ti(2)(&mgr;-Cl)(3)Cl(4)(PH(3))(2)](-), and another well-known anion, [Ti(2)(&mgr;-Cl)(3)Cl(6)](3)(-), by employing an ab initio configuration interaction method. The results of the calculations reveal that the metal-metal interaction in these Ti(III) face-sharing compounds can be best described by strong antiferromagnetic coulping that leads to a singlet ground state and a thermally accessible triplet first excited state. Accordingly the measured magnetic data were satisfactorily fitted to a spin-only formula.