Sulfido-bridged dinuclear molybdenum-copper complexes related to the active site of CO dehydrogenase: [(dithiolate)Mo(O)S2Cu(SAr)]2- (dithiolate = 1,2-S2C6H4, 1,2-S2C6H2-3,6-Cl2, 1,2-S2C2H4).

The [MoCu] carbon monoxide dehydrogenase (CODH) is a Cu-containing molybdo-flavoprotein, the active site of which contains a pterin-dithiolene cofactor bound to a sulfido-bridged dinuclear Mo-Cu complex. In this paper, the synthesis and characterization of dinuclear Mo-Cu complexes relevant to the active site of [MoCu]-CODH are described. Reaction of [MoO2S2]2- with CuCN affords the dinuclear complex [O2MoS2Cu(CN)]2- (1), in which the CN- ligand can be replaced with various aryl thiolates to give rise to a series of dinuclear complexes [O2MoS2Cu(SAr)]2- (Ar = Ph (2), o-Tol (3), and p-Tol (4)). An alternative synthesis of complex 2 is the reaction of [MoO2S2]2- with [Cu(SPh)3]2-. Similarly, [O2MoS2Cu(PPh3)]- (5), [O2MoS2Cu(dppe)]- (dppe = 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane) (6), and [O2MoS2Cu(triphos)]- (triphos = 1,1,1-tris[(diphenylphosphino)methyl]ethane) (7) were prepared from the reactions of [MoO2S2]2- with the Cu(I) phosphine complexes. Treatment of 1, 2, 4, or 5 with dithiols (1,2-(SH)2C6H4, 1,2-(SH)2C6H2-3,6-Cl2, and 1,2-(SH)2C2H4), in acetonitrile, leads to the replacement of a molybdenum-bound oxo ligand to yield [(dithiolate)Mo(O)S2CuL]2- (L = CN, SAr; dithiolate = 1,2-S2C6H4, 1,2-S2C6H2-3,6-Cl2, or 1,2-S2C2H4) (8-13) or [(1,2-S2C6H4)Mo(O)S2Cu(PPh3)]- (14) complexes.