Activation of Ligand Reactivity: Thiolate C-S and Dithiophosphate Ester C-O Heterolyses within a Dimolybdenum(V)...

Ligand reactivity was demonstrated for sulfide alkylation, thiolate dealkylation, and dithiophosphate de-esterification within molybdenum(V) dimers. The cationic complex [Mo(2)(NC(6)H(4)Me)(2)(S(2)P(OEt)(2))(2)(&mgr;-O(2)CMe)(&mgr;-SR)(2)](+) was inductively activated toward thiolate C-S and dithiophosphate C-O heterolyses. The dealkylations were studied using anionic nucleophiles, and various reactivity patterns were characterized. The de-esterification of the diethyl dithiophosphate ligands produced complexes containing the rare monoester EtO(O)PS(2)(2)(-) ligand. This ligand's phosphoryl group was poorly nucleophilic but weakly basic. Crystallographic comparisons between the activated cation and the neutral complex [Mo(2)(NC(6)H(4)Me)(2)(S(2)P(OEt)(2))(2)(&mgr;-O(2)CMe)(&mgr;-S)(&mgr;-SMe)] were conducted to delineate structural differences related to the activation. A crystallographic study was also done of the complex [Mo(2)(NC(6)H(4)CH(3))(2)(S(2)P(OEt)(2))(S(2)P(O)OEt)(&mgr;-O(2)CMe)(&mgr;-SEt)(2)], which provided internal comparison of monoester EtO(O)PS(2)(2)(-) and diester (EtO)(2)PS(2)(-) ligand types.