New ligand systems incorporating two and three 4,4'-bipyridine units. Characterization of bi- and trimetallic rhodium and iridium complexes.

The synthesis of new ligand systems based on the bipyridine unit for bi- and trimetallic complexes, including a rare example of a chiral bimetallic complex, is presented. Ligands BBPX (bis-bipyridine-xylene, 3) and TBPBX (tris-bipyridine-bis-xylene, 4) were prepared in one step by reacting alpha,alpha'-dibromo-o-xylene (2) with 2 equiv of the monolithiated derivative of 4,4'-dimethyl-2,2'-bipyridine. Dilithium (S)-binaphtholate (5) reacted with 2 equiv of 4-bromomethyl-4'-methyl-2,2'-bipyridine (6), affording ligand (S)-BBPBINAP (bis-bipyridine-binaphtholate, 7). These ligands reacted cleanly with 1, 1.5, and 1 equiv of the rhodium dimer [Rh(2)Cl(2)(HD)(2)] (HD = 1,5-hexadiene), respectively. Chloride abstraction led to the isolation of the cationic complexes BBPX[Rh(HD)BF(4)](2) (8), TBPBX[Rh(HD)BF(4)](3) (10), and (S)-BBPBINAP[Rh(HD)BF(4)](2) (12). When BBPX (3), TBPBX (4), and (S)-BBPBINAP (7) were added to 2, 3, and 2 equiv of [Rh(NBD)(2)]BF(4) or [Rh(NBD)(CH(3)CN)(2)]BF(4) (NBD = norbornadiene), respectively, clean formation of BBPX[Rh(NBD)BF(4)](2) (9), TBPBX[Rh(NBD)BF(4)](3) (11), and (S)-BBPBINAP[Rh(NBD)BF(4)](2) (13) was observed. The neutral iridium complex (S)-BBPBINAP[IrCl(COD)](2) (14) was obtained by reaction of (S)-BBPBINAP (7) with 1 equiv of [Ir(2)Cl(2)(COD)(2)] (COD = cyclooctadiene). The complexes were fully characterized including X-ray structural studies of 8, 9, and 13, and preliminary studies on their catalytic activity were performed.