Highly strained heterometallacycles of Group 4 metallocenes with bis(diphenylphosphino)amide ligands.

A study regarding coordination chemistry of the bis(diphenylphosphino)amide ligand Ph(2) P-N-PPh(2) at Group 4 metallocenes is presented herein. Coordination of N,N-bis(diphenylphosphino)amine (1) to [(Cp(2) TiCl)(2) ] (Cp=η(5) -cyclopentadienyl) generated [Cp(2) Ti(Cl)P(Ph(2) )N(H)PPh(2) ] (2). The heterometallacyclic complex [Cp(2) Ti(κ(2) -P,P-Ph(2) P-N-PPh(2) )] (3 Ti) can be prepared by reaction of 2 with n-butyllithium as well as from the reaction of the known titanocene-alkyne complex [Cp(2) Ti(η(2) -Me(3) SiC(2) SiMe(3) )] with the amine 1. Reactions of the lithium amide [(thf)(3) Li{N(PPh(2) )(2) }] with [Cp(2) MCl(2) ] (M=Zr, Hf) yielded the corresponding zirconocene and hafnocene complexes [Cp(2) M(Cl){κ(2) -N,P-N(PPh(2) )(2) }] (4 Zr and 4 Hf). Reduction of 4 Zr with magnesium gave the highly strained heterometallacycle [Cp(2) Zr(κ(2) -P,P-Ph(2) P-N-PPh(2) )] (3 Zr). Complexes 2, 3 Ti, 4 Hf, and 3 Zr were characterized by X-ray crystallography. The structures and bondings of all complexes were investigated by DFT calculations.