Two-coordinate terminal zinc hydride complexes: synthesis, structure and preliminary reactivity studies.

The first examples of essentially two-coordinate, monomeric zinc hydride complexes, LZnH (L = -N(Ar)(SiR3)) (Ar = C6H2{C(H)Ph2}2R'-2,6,4; R = Me, R' = Pr(i) (L'); R = Pr(i), R' = Me (L*); R = Pr(i), R' = Pr(i) (L(†))) have been prepared and shown by crystallographic studies to have near linear N-Zn-H fragments. The results of computational studies imply that any PhZn interactions in the compounds are weak at best. Preliminary reactivity studies reveal the compounds to be effective for the stoichiometric hydrozincation and catalytic hydrosilylation of carbonyl compounds.