Synthetic, Structural, NMR, and Computational Study of a Geminally Bis(peri-substituted) Tridentate Phosphine and Its Chalcogenides and Transition-Metal Complexes

Coupling of two acenaphthene backbones through a phosphorus atom in a geminal fashion gives the first geminally bis­(peri-substituted) tridentate phosphine 1. The rigid nature of the aromatic backbone and overall crowding of the molecule result in a rather inflexible ligand, with the three phosphorus atoms forming a relatively compact triangular cluster. Phosphine 1 displays restricted dynamics on an NMR time scale, which leads to the anisochronicity of all three phosphorus nuclei at low temperatures. Strained bis- and tris­(sulfides) 2 and 3 and the bis­(selenide) 4 have been isolated from the reaction of 1 with sulfur and selenium, respectively. These chalcogeno derivatives display pronounced in-plane and out-of-plane distortions of the aromatic backbones, indicating the limits of their angular distortions. In addition, we report metal complexes with tetrahedral [(1)­Cu­(MeCN)]­[BF4] (5), square planar [(1)­PtCl]­[Cl] (6), trigonal bipyramidal [(1)­FeCl2] (7), and octahedral fac-[(1)­Mo­(CO)3] (8) geometries. In all of these complexes the tris­(phosphine) backbone is distorted, however to a significantly smaller extent than that in the mentioned chalcogenides 2–4. Complexes 5 and 8 show fluxionality in 31P and 1H NMR. All new compounds 1–8 were fully characterized, and their crystal structures are reported. Conclusions from dynamic NMR observations were augmented by DFT calculations.