Vibrational properties of ethyltitanium trichloride and its 1,2-bis(dimethylphosphino)ethane adduct: characterisation of isolated ν(C–H) modes and implications for agostic bonding

Abstract

The IR spectra of normal and specifically deuteriated [CH ₃ CH ₂ TiCl ₃ ] show that coordination by Me ₂ PCH ₂ CH ₂ PMe ₂ (dmpe) results in an unusually low stretching frequency for one of the β-C–H bonds in the ethyltitanium fragment; the results are analysed for their relevance to the bonding in the β-agostic unit in the light of quantum chemical calculations.