Electron acceptors promote proton-hydride tautomerism in low valent rhenium β-diketiminates.

We report a series of β-diketiminate (BDI) complexes in which tautomeric rhenium(iii) hydride and rhenium(i) protio-BDI species readily interconvert between the solid and solution states. This phenomenon, which is only operative when an electron-accepting ligand is bound to rhenium, was investigated by a combination of experimental and computational methods.