Kinetics and mechanism of oxygen transfer to methyloxo(dithiolato)rhenium(V) complexes

The kinetics and mechanism of the reactions of the dimeric and monomeric methyloxo(dithiolato)rhenium(V) complexes (o-SC6H4CH2S)Re(O)CH3]2 and (o-SC6H4CH2S)PyRe(O)CH3] (Py = pyridine) with XO, sulfoxides, and pyridine N-oxides are studied. In these reactions, an oxygen atom from XO is transferred to rhenium, from which it later removed. A reaction scheme is proposed to interpret the kinetic data. This scheme features the formation of a monomeric (sulfoxide)- or (pyridine N-oxide)(dithiolato)methyloxorhenium(V) complex followed by its bimolecular oxidation in a rate-controlling step. Several sulfoxides (methyl, methyl phenyl, and substituted diphenyl) all react at similar rates. Activation parameters are determined for dimethyl sulfoxide and di-4-tolyl sulfoxide from temperature-dependent studies. The reactions with pyridine N-oxides show autocatalysis in which the catalyst is confirmed to be pyridine formed in the reactions.