Zeolite-supported organorhodium fragments: essentially molecular surface chemistry elucidated with spectroscopy and theory.

Structures of zeolite-anchored organorhodium complexes undergoing conversions with gas-phase reactants were characterized by infrared spectra bolstered by calculations with density functional theory and analysis of the gas-phase products. Structurally well-defined zeolite-supported rhodium diethylene complexes were synthesized by chemisorption of Rh(C(2)H(4))(2)(acac) (acac = CH(3)COCHCOCH(3)) on dealuminated Y zeolite, being anchored by two Rh-O bonds, as shown by extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy. In contrast to the nonuniformity of metal complexes anchored to metal oxides, the near uniformity of the zeolite-supported species allowed precise determination of their chemistry, including the role of the support as a ligand. The anchored rhodium diethylene complex underwent facile, reversible ligand exchange with deuterated ethylene at 298 K, and ethylene ligands were hydrogenated by reverse spillover of hydrogen from support hydroxyl groups. The supported complexes reacted with CO to form rhodium gem-dicarbonyls, which, in the presence of ethylene, gave rhodium monocarbonyls. The facile removal of ethylene ligands from the complex in H(2)-N(2) mixtures created coordinatively unsaturated rhodium complexes; the coordinative unsaturation was stabilized by the site isolation of the complexes, allowing reaction with N(2) to form rhodium complexes with one and with two N(2) ligands. The results also provide evidence of a new rhodium monohydride species incorporating a C(2)H(4) ligand.