Structural and spectroscopic characterization of the dirhenium acetamidate products resulting from the hydrolysis of acetonitrile

Unsaturated molecules such as nitriles are activated upon coordination to a dirhenium core. Acetonitrile is hydrolyzed in the presence of water to produce coordinated bridging acetamidate ligands as demonstrated by the reaction of [N(C4H9)(4)](2)[Re2Cl8] with CH3CN and water in ethanol to form the acetamidate complexes, [N(C4H9)(4)][Re2Cl5(mu-CH3C(O)NH)(mu-CH3C(OH)N)]. 3CH(2)CL(2) [I] and Re2Cl4(mu-CH3C(O)NH)(mu-dppm)(2). 4 CH2Cl2/0.833 EtOH [II]. Compound II is formed when I is reduced upon coordination of bis(diphenylphosphino)methane (dppm). Compounds I and II were characterized using X-ray crystallography and a variety of other spectroscopic methods. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.