Inversion of ν(MHal) stretching frequencies in the spectra of dihalosilylenes, -germylenes, -stannylenes,and their complexes with Lewis bases

The vibrational spectra of tetravalent metal halides (M = Si, Ge, Sn) and the corresponding dihalocarbene analogs M^IIHal₂, obtained by the authors, and the relevant published data are compared. The spectra of the M^IIHal₂ species exhibit inversion of the M-Hal stretching frequencies (ν^s(M^IIHal) > ν ^as(M^IIHal)). This can be used for analytical purposes and allows one to distinguish between the spectra of the M^IV and M^II halides. The IR and Raman spectra of the complexes of dihalogermylenes and -stannylenes with triphenylphosphine and 1,4-dioxane also exhibit inversion of the ν(MHal) stretching frequencies. This confirms the conclusion drawn earlier based on the analysis of the geometric parameters and reactivities of the complexes in question that the divalent state of the M atom in these species is retained. Dedicated to Academician N. K. Kochetkov on the occasion of his 90th birthday. __________ Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 5, pp. 1089–1092, May, 2005.