Phosphoraneiminato Complexes of Manganese and Cobalt with Heterocubane Structure

The phosphoraneiminato complexes MnBr(NPEt₃)]₄ ( 1 ) and M₄Br₅{NP(NMe₂)₃}₃] with M = Mn ( 2 ) and M = Co ( 3 ) are prepared by melting reactions from the anhydrous metal dibromides with the silylated phosphaneimines Me₃SiNPR₃ (R = Et, NMe₂) in the presence of potassium fluoride. All complexes are characterized by crystal structure analyses. 1 forms an only slightly distorted Mn₄N₄ heterocubane skeleton with an approximate T_d symmetry and short Mn…Mn distances of average 295.7 pm. In the structures of 2 and 3 one μ₃-NPEt₃ ligand of 1 is replaced by one bromine atom with μ₃-function. This leads to the novel heterocubane type M₄N₃Br with approximate C₃ symmetry. The deformation of the cubic skeleton leads to metal-metal distances of different lengths, i. e. 292.7 and 323.6 pm in 2 and 274.4 and 306.2 pm in 3 . Temperature dependent magnetic susceptibility measurements between 300 and 5 K on 1 have shown that strong antiferromagnetic coupling exists between the Mn(II) ions with S = 5/2, with a large negative Weiss constant of Θ = –694 K.