N-heterocyclic carbenes as ligands in high-valent molybdenum and tungsten complexes

Oxometal complexes of molybdenum and tungsten in high oxidation states from stable adducts with 1,3-dimethylimidazoline-2-ylidene (L) 1. The first ‘carbene’ complexes of molybdenum(VI) [MoO₂Cl(L)₃]Cl (3a) and tungsten(VI) WO₂Cl₂(L)₂ (4b) are reported.     

The CeO(2)(+) Cation: Gas-Phase Reactivity and Electronic Structure

"Bare" CeO(2)(+) ions can be prepared in the gas phase by consecutive oxidation of Ce(+) with O(2) and NO(2). The ability to activate saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons is investigated by use of Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. In the reactions of CeO(2)(+) with linear and branched alkanes C-H bond activation is observed almost exclusively. In contrast, both oxygen-atom transfer and C-H bond activation processes occur when thermalized CeO(2)(+) cations react with simple alkenes and aromatic compounds. C-C bond activation is not observed at all. Insight into the structural and electronic properties of neutral CeO(2) and cationic CeO(2)(+) is provided by means of quasirelativistic density-functional and ab initio pseudopotential calculations. They reveal a (2)Sigma(u)(+) ground state for CeO(2)(+) which is best described as a linear cerium dioxide with a resonating pi bond. Finally, we discuss the influence of oxo ligands on the chemistry of the cationic CeO(n)()(+) (n = 0-2) species toward hydrocarbons.     

Investigations of precipitates in heat treated AgPd30/CuSn6 layers

The subject of the investigations are precipitation zones, which grew as a result of chemical diffusion in AgPd30/CuSn6 bimetals. These precipitation zones have been characterized by metallography, electron probe microanalysis and x-ray diffraction. The growth of precipitation zones in the plating layer and in the substrate layer in dependence on time have been determined. The use of x-ray diffraction alone for the identification of the precipitates could not supply satisfying results in every case. This problem was solved by the application of electron probe microanalysis using a correction method, which allows the estimation of the chemical composition of small particles.Dedicated to Professor Dr. rer. nat. Dr. h. c. Hubertus Nickel on the occasion of his 65th birthday     

On Mercury(I) Oxo Compounds — Quasi‐Relativistic Computational and Experimental Studies

About 60 molecular species composed of up to 10 mercury atoms and of oxygen atoms and/or of some other elements or groups (such as halogen, OH₂, OH, H, alkali, NO₃) have been investigated quantum chemically. Different density functional approaches and the ab initio SCF‐MP2 method were applied, comparing different basis sets and different atomic core sizes. It is important not to treat the Hg 5s, p, d as inactive core shells, and to use sufficiently many polarization functions. The shape of the 〉O‐Hg‐Hg‐O〈 units is not favorable concerning the formation of lattices composed of Hg^I, O and OH only. Despite its bulkiness, the OHgHgO units can easily come into contact with each other and then disproportionate. This is prevented in the so‐called ternary M‐Hg^I oxides by the embedded oxometallate (oxoacidic) anions. Furthermore, the Hg^I and Hg^II oxide bond energies are less favorable towards the stability of Hg^I oxo compounds, as compared to Hg halidic or oxoacidic compounds. Both points are not promising concerning the search for Hg^I oxides/hydroxides, although the preparation of such compounds, including spacer groups, by topochemical reactions can still not be excluded. So far, experimental efforts towards the synthesis of such a new class of compounds have only demonstrated that Hg^II is strictly preferred over Hg^I in the formation of solids of binary Hg‐O or ternary A‐Hg‐O composition (A = electropositive metal such as alkali, in contrast to M = transition or semi‐metal). This is so even if compounds containing ‘electron rich Hg^δ— atoms’ (i.e. A‐Hg amalgams) are oxidized under mild conditions.     

Dediazoniations of Arenediazonium Ions in Homogeneous Solutions. Part XV. Products of dediazoniation of p-chlorobenzenediazonium tetrafluoroborate in weakly alkaline aqueous solutions

The products of decomposition of solutions of p-chlorobenzenediazonium tetrafluoroborate in aqueous buffer solutions (pH 9.0–10.3; ionic strength 0.1–0.5) at 20.0° have been analyzed quantitatively. Up to eleven low molecular weight compounds could be identified besides the major product, the complex polymeric diazo tar. The distribution of products is influenced by trace amounts of oxygen as well as by p-chlorophenol and the radical trapping reagent iodoacetic acid. Mechanisms of formation of the products are discussed.     

Pd/P(t-Bu)(3): a mild and general catalyst for Stille reactions of aryl chlorides and aryl bromides

Pd/P(t-Bu)(3) serves as an unusually reactive catalyst for Stille reactions of aryl chlorides and bromides, providing solutions to a number of long-standing challenges. An unprecedented array of aryl chlorides can be cross-coupled with a range of organotin reagents, including SnBu(4). Very hindered biaryls (e.g., tetra-ortho-substituted) can be synthesized, and aryl chlorides can be coupled in the presence of aryl triflates. The method is user-friendly, since a commercially available complex, Pd(P(t-Bu)(3))(2), is effective. Pd/P(t-Bu)(3) also functions as an active catalyst for Stille reactions of aryl bromides, furnishing the first general method for room-temperature cross-couplings.