The preparation and coordination chemistry of (i)Pr2P(E)NHP(E′)(i)Pr2 (E, E′ = Se; E = Se, E′ = S; E = S, E′ = O; E,E′ = O

Reaction of (Pr2PCl)-Pr-i with (Me3Si)(2)NH gives (Pr2PNHPPr2)-Pr-i-P-i (not isolated) which was oxidised with sulfur/selenium/oxygen to give (Pr2P)-Pr-i(E)NHP(E')Pr-i(2) (E, E'=Se; E=Se, E'=S; E=S, E'=O; E,E'=O). These neutral LH molecules readily undergo deprotonation/complexation to form simple ML, species and demonstrative examples with Zn, Cd, Pd, Pt are reported. The X-ray structure of two examples of (Pr2P)-Pr-i(E)NHP(E')Pr-i(2) (E, E' = Se, E,EI = O) are reported. The molecules pack into infinite chains via H...E Hydrogen bonds. The X-ray structures of three typical metal complexes which illustrate tetrahedral (Cd[((Pr2PSe)-Pr-i)(2)](2)) and square planar (Pt[N((Pr2PSe)-Pr-i)(2)](2)) coordination at the metal centre as well as the ability of the ME2P2N ring to adopt the pseudo-chair conformation (Pt[(Pr2P)-Pr-i(Se)NHP(S)Pr-i(2)](2)) are also reported. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.