Tuning "kappticity" of tripodal ligands

The synthesis and structural characterization of a series of tripodal tris(phosphine) ligands, containing SiMe2 elbow groups, is described. The significant steric congestion in these ligands, due to the silylmethyl substituents, is manifest both in the solid-state structures and in the solution NMR spectra of the free ligands. Variable temperature 1H{31P} NMR studies of one of the ligands, CH3C(SiMe2PEt2)3 (4b) gave an estimated barrier to rotation around the Si-Capical bonds of approximately 10.4 kcal mol(-1). Octahedral kappa2- and kappa3-molybdenum complexes of these ligands also demonstrate the impact of the additional bulk imparted by the SiMe2 substituents, and the high Lewis basicity of these phosphines, with subtle changes at the apical and phosphine substituents changing the overall coordination chemistry observed.