Syntheses, structures, and reactivities of mono- and dinuclear iridium thiolato complexes containing nitrosyl ligands

Reactions of the iridium(III) nitrosyl complex [Ir(NO)Cl-2(PPh3)(2)] (1) with hydrosulfide and arenethiolate anions afforded the square-pyramidal iridium(III) complex [Ir(NO)(SH)(2)(PPh3)(2)] (2) with a bent nitrosyl ligand and a series of the square-planar iridium(I) complexes [Ir(NO)(SAr)(2)(PPh3)] (3a, Ar = C6H2Me3-2,4,6 (Mes); 3b, Ar = C6H3Me2-2,6 (Xy); 3c, Ar = C6H2Pr3i-2,4,6) containing a linear nitrosyl ligand, respectively. Complex 1 also reacted with alkanethiolate anions or alkanethiols to give the thiolato-bridged diiridium complexes [Ir(NO)(mu-SPri)(SPri)(PPh3)](2) (4) and [Ir(NO)(mu-SBut)(PPh3)](2) (5). Complex 4 contains two square-pyramidal iridium(III) centers with a bent nitrosyl ligand, whereas 5 contains two tetrahedral iridium(0) centers with a linear nitrosyl ligand and has an Ir-Ir bond. Upon treatment with benzoyl chloride, 3a and 3b were converted into the (diaryl disulfide)- and thiolato-bridged dichlorodiiridium(III) complexes [{IrCl(mu-SC6HnMe4-nCH2)(PPh3)}(2)(mu-ArSSAr)] (6a, Ar = Mes, n = 2; 6b, Ar = Xy, n = 3) accompanied by a loss of the nitrosyl ligands and cleavage of a C-H bond in an ortho methyl group of the thiolato ligands. Similar treatment of 4 gave the dichlorodiiridium complex [Ir(NO)(PPh3)(mu-SPri)(3)IrCl2(PPh3)] (7), which has an octahedral dichloroiridium(III) center and a distorted trigonal bipyramidal Ir(I) atom with a linear nitrosyl ligand. The detailed structures of 3a, 4, 5, 6a, and 7 have been determined by X-ray crystallography.