Catalytic CO2 activation assisted by rhenium hydride/B(C6F5)3 frustrated Lewis pairs--metal hydrides functioning as FLP bases.

Reaction of 1 with B(C6F5)3 under 1 bar of CO2 led to the instantaneous formation of the frustrated Lewis pair (FLP)-type species [ReHBr(NO)(PR3)2(η(2)-O═C═O-B(C6F5)3)] (2, R = iPr a, Cy b) possessing two cis-phosphines and O(CO2)-coordinated B(C6F5)3 groups as verified by NMR spectroscopy and supported by DFT calculations. The attachment of B(C6F5)3 in 2a,b establishes cooperative CO2 activation via the Re-H/B(C6F5)3 Lewis pair, with the Re-H bond playing the role of a Lewis base. The Re(I) η(1)-formato dimer [{Re(μ-Br)(NO)(η(1)-OCH═O-B(C6F5)3)(PiPr3)2}2] (3a) was generated from 2a and represents the first example of a stable rhenium complex bearing two cis-aligned, sterically bulky PiPr3 ligands. Reaction of 3a with H2 cleaved the μ-Br bridges, producing the stable and fully characterized formato dihydrogen complex [ReBrH2(NO)(η(1)-OCH═O-B(C6F5)3)(PiPr3)2] (4a) bearing trans-phosphines. Stoichiometric CO2 reduction of 4a with Et3SiH led to heterolytic splitting of H2 along with formation of bis(triethylsilyl)acetal ((Et3SiO)2CH2, 7). Catalytic reduction of CO2 with Et3SiH was also accomplished with the catalysts 1a,b/B(C6F5)3, 3a, and 4a, showing turnover frequencies (TOFs) between 4 and 9 h(-1). The stoichiometric reaction of 4a with the sterically hindered base 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine (TMP) furnished H2 ligand deprotonation. Hydrogenations of CO2 using 1a,b/B(C6F5)3, 3a, and 4a as catalysts gave in the presence of TMP TOFs of up to 7.5 h(-1), producing [TMPH][formate] (11). The influence of various bases (R2NH, R = iPr, Cy, SiMe3, 2,4,6-tri-tert-butylpyridine, NEt3, PtBu3) was studied in greater detail, pointing to two crucial factors of the CO2 hydrogenations: the steric bulk and the basicity of the base.