Silane-Functionalized N‑Heterocyclic Carbene–Cobalt Complexes Containing a Five-Coordinate Silicon with a Covalent Co–Si Bond

Novel cobalt complexes featuring five-coordinate silicon centers with a covalent Co–Si bond, i.e., [(SiN2C)­Co­(OPy)] complexes (SiN2C = tetradentate silane-anchored bis­(pyridine)-N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligand, OPy = 2-pyridonato), were prepared by reaction of bidentate hydrosilyl-NHC-supported cobalt­(II) complexes with 2-pyridone and characterized by 1H, 13C, and 29Si NMR, single-crystal X-ray diffraction, and elemental analyses. Theoretical calculations support a covalent nature of the Co–Si interaction, in contrast to the metal→Si dative bonds in metallasilatranes.