Transition metal complexes of antimony centered ligands based upon acenaphthyl scaffolds. Coordination non-innocent or not?

Abstract

The synthesis and structures of the di- and triorgano antimony compounds (6-Ph₂P-Ace-5-)₂SbCl (1) and (6-Ph₂P-Ace-5-)₃Sb (2) are presented along with their use as coordination non-innocent ligands for transition metals, leading to the complexes Cl(6-Ph₂P-Ace-5-)₂SbCuCl (3), Cl₂(6-Ph₂P-Ace-5-)₂SbPdCl (4), Cl₂(6-Ph₂P-Ace-5-)₂SbPtCl (5) and Cl(6-Ph₂P-Ace-5-)₃SbRhCl (6). The electronic structures of 1–6 were investigated by DFT computations using a set of topological and surface-based real-space bonding indicators derived from the Atoms-In-Molecules (AIM), Non-Covalent interactions Index (NCI), and Electron Localizability Indicator (ELI-D) methods, unravelling a dative Sb–Cu bond character in 3 and polar-covalent Sb–Pd/Pt/Rh interactions in 4–6.