Kinetics and mechanisms of halide ion catalysis of CO substitution reactions in Os3(CO)12 and Ru3(CO)12 metal carbonyl clusters

The results of kinetic studies on ligand substitution in [M₃(CO)₁₁X]^– complexes (M = Ru, Os; X = Cl, Br, I) are summarized. The [Os₃(CO)₁₁X]^– complexes react with PPh₃ under mild conditions to initially yield monosubstituted products [Os₃(CO)₁₀(PPh₃)X]^–. The rate of CO substitution obeys a first-order equation with respect to the concentration of the complex and does not depend on the ligand concentration. The rates of the reactions decrease in the order Cl > Br > I withH values increasing from 15 to 18 kcal mol^–1 and S values varying from –19 to –13 cal mol^–1 K^–1. The enhanced reactivities of these complexes as well as the low activation energies and negative activation entropies are discussed in terms of the effects of -X bridge formation on the transition state of the reaction. Reactions of PPN[Ru₃(CO)_11–x(Cl)] (PPN is the bis(triphenylphosphine)iminium cation;x=0, 1) and PPN[Ru₃(CO)₉(₃-I)] with alkynes are also reported. The reactivities of alkynes follow the order BuCCH PhCCH EtCCEt PhCCPh. The higher rates of the reactions of monosubstituted acetylenes compared with those of their disubstituted analogs are explained by agostic interaction between the metal atom and the C-H bond in the reaction transition state and by steric effects. The results obtained attest that the reaction with alkynes occursvia intermediates containing halide bridges and that ₃-halide complexes are more reactive than ₂-halide complexes.Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 9, pp. 1540–1545, September, 1994.This work was supported by a Presidential Grant from Northwestern University. One of the authors (F. Basolo) wishes to thank Academician M. E. Vol'pin for the invitation to participate in the Workshop The Modern Problems of Organometallic Chemistry (INEOS-94) and Academician O. M. Nefedov for the invitation to publish a review in theRussian Chemical Bulletin.