Two 18ē Ti(IV) eta5-Cp-tris(sec-amido)-type complexes derived from 1H-imidazol-2-yl side-chain functionalized cyclopentadienes.

Achiral {2-[2-(eta(5)-cyclopentadienyl)-2-methylpropyl]-1H-imidazolyl-kappaN(1)}bis(N,N-diethylamido-kappaN)titanium(IV), [Ti(C(4)H(10)N)(2)(C(12)H(14)N(2))], (I), and closely related racemic (SR)-{2-[(eta(5)-cyclopentadienyl)(phenyl)methyl]-1H-imidazolyl-kappaN(1)}bis(N,N-diethylamido-kappaN)titanium(IV), [Ti(C(4)H(10)N)(2)(C(15)H(12)N(2))], (II), have been prepared by direct reactions of Ti(NEt(2))(4) and the corresponding 1H-imidazol-2-yl side-chain functionalized cyclopentadienes. In compound (II), there are two crystallographically independent molecules of very similar geometries connected by a noncrystallographic pseudosymmetry operation akin to a 2(1) screw axis. All Ti-ligating N atoms in both (I) and (II) are in planar environments, which is indicative of an additional N-->Ti ppi-dpi donation. This fact and the 18ē nature of both (I) and (II) are additionally supported by quantum chemical single-point density functional theory (DFT) computations.