In 2005, Power and co-coworkers reported the synthesis of the first Cr-Cr complex with a bond order of five.1 Despite the growing interest in the field of bimetallic complexes with a five-fold bond order, their potential applications as catalysts for the activation of small molecules have received little attention. Herein we present the synthesis of coordinatively unsaturated bimetallic units, M2, with M = Mo, Cr. We have used the sterically bulky supporting ligands bis-diisopropylphenyl guanidinate and bis-diisopropylphenyl formamidinate, which prevent more than two ligands to surround the bimetallic unit. These complexes have been characterized by X-ray crystallography, IR and UV-vis spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry. Experimental and computational efforts have been performed to understand the electronic structure and electrochemical behavior of these complexes. Such understanding may lead to their potential use as molecular catalysts in energy conversion and environmental remediation.1. Nguyen, T. et. al. Science, 2005  , 310, 844-847.

Coordinatively unsaturated bimetallic systems for small molecule activation

245th National Meeting (2013)

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