Microwave synthesis of mono- and bis-tetrazolato complexes via 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of organonitriles with platinum(II)-bound azides.

[2 + 3] Cycloaddition reactions of the diazidoplatinum(II) complexes cis-[Pt(N3)2(PPh3)2] 1 and cis-[Pt(N3)2(2,2'-bipy)] 4 with organonitriles NCR 2 give the bis(tetrazolato) complexes trans-[Pt(N4CR)2(PPh3)2] 3 [R = Me (3a), Et (3b), Pr (3c), Ph (3d), 4-ClC6H4 (3e)] and cis-[Pt(N4CR)2(2,2'-bipy)] 5 [R = Me (5a), Et (5b), Pr (5c), Ph (5d)]. The reaction of cis-[Pt(N3)2(PPh3)2] I with propionitrile also affords, apart from 3b, the unexpected mixed cyano-tetrazolato complex trans-[Pt(CN)(5-ethyltetrazolato)(PPh3)2] 3b' which is derived from the reaction of the bis(tetrazolato) 3b with propionitrile, with concomitant formation of 5-ethyl-1H-tetrazole, via a suggested unusual oxidative addition of the nitrile to PtII. All these reactions are greatly accelerated by microwave irradiation and this method also shows a higher selectivity in the case of the reaction of propionitrile with 1, leading only to the formation of 3b. All the complexes obtained were characterized by IR, 1H, 13C and 31P[1H] (for complexes 3) NMR spectroscopies, FAB-MS and elemental analyses. Complexes 3b', 3d, 3e and 5d were also characterized by X-ray structural analyses.