Darstellung carboxylatsubstituierter Rhenium-Gold-Metallatetrahedrane Re2(AuPPh3)2(μ-PCy2)(CO)7(η1-OC(R)O) (R = H,Me, CF3, Ph, 3,4-(OMe)2C6H3)

Synthesis of Carboxylate Substituted Rhenium Gold Metallatetrahedranes Re₂(AuPPh₃)₂(μ-PCy₂)(CO)₇(η¹-OC(R)O) (R = H, Me, CF₃, Ph, 3,4-(OMe)₂C₆H₃) The reaction of the in situ prepared salt Li[Re₂(μ-H)(μ-PCy₂)(CO)₇(ax-C(Ph)O)] ( 2 ) with 1,5 equivalents of monocarboxylic acid RCOOH (R = H ( 4 a ), Me ( 4 b ), CF₃ ( 4 c ), Ph ( 4 d ), 3,4-(OMe)₂C₆H₃ ( 4 e ) in tetrahydrofruan (THF) solution at 60 °C gives within 4 h under release of benzaldehyde (PhCHO) the η¹-carboxylate substituted dirhenium salt Li[Re₂(μ-H)(μ-PCy₂)(CO)₇(η¹-OC(R)O)] (R = H ( 4 a ), Me ( 4 b ), CF₃ ( 4 c ), Ph ( 4 d ), 3,4-(OMe)₂C₆H₃ ( 4 e )) in almost quantitative yield. The lower the pK_a value of the respective carboxylic acid the faster the reaction proceeds. It was only in the case of CF₃COOH possible to prove the formation of the hydroxycarbene complex Re₂(μ-H)(μ-PCy₂)(CO)₇(=C(Ph)OH) ( 5 ) prior to elimination of PhCHO. The new compounds 4 a–4 e were only characterized by ³¹P NMR and ν(CO) IR spectroscopy as they are only stable in solution. They are converted with two equivalents of BF₄AuPPh₃ at 0 °C in a so-called cluster expansion reaction into the heterometallic metallatetrahedrane complexes Re₂(AuPPh₃)₂(μ-PCy₂)(CO)₇(η¹-OC(R)O) (R = H ( 7 a ), Me ( 7 b ), CF₃ ( 7 c ), Ph ( 7 d ), 3,4-(OMe)₂C₆H₃ ( 7 e )) (yield 47–71% ). The expected precursor complexes of 7 a–7 e Li[Re₂(AuPPh₃)(μ-PCy₂)(CO)₇(η¹-OC(R)O] ( 8 ) were not detected by NMR and IR spectroscopy in the course of the reaction. Their existence was retrosynthetically proved by the reaction of 7 b with an excess of the chelating base TBD (1,5,7-Triazabicyclo[4.4.0]dec-5-en) forming [(TBD)_xAuPPh₃][Re₂(AuPPh₃)(μ-PCy₂)(CO)₇(η¹-OC(Me)O] ( 8 b ) in solution. The η¹-bound carboxylate ligand in 7 a–7 e can photochemically be converted into a μ-bound ligand in Re₂(AuPPh₃)₂(μ-PCy₂)(μ-OC(R)O)(CO)₆ (R = H ( 9 a ), Me ( 9 b ), CF₃ ( 9 c ), Ph ( 9 d ), 3.4-(MeO)₂C₆H₃ ( 9 e )) under release of one equivalent CO. All isolated cluster complexes were characterized and identified by the following analytical methods: elementary analysis, NMR (¹H, ³¹P) spectroscopy, ν(CO) IR spectroscopy and in the case of 7 d and 9 b by X-ray structure analysis.