Osmium(VI) Nitrido and Osmium(IV) Phosphoraniminato Complexes Containing Schiff Base Ligands

A series of osmium(VI) nitrido complexes containing Schiff base ligands, [Os(VI)(N)(L)Cl] (L = salophen or salen), have been synthesized by reaction of the ligand with [NBu(n)(4)][Os(VI)(N)Cl(4)] in the presence of 2,6-dimethylpyridine. The nu(Os&tbd1;N) for the salophen complexes occur at around 1070 cm(-)(1) and are insensitive to the nature of the substituents present on the Schiff base ligand. The structures of [Os(N)(salophen)(MeOH)]ClO(4) and [Os(N)(5,5-Cl(2)salophen)(MeOH)]ClO(4) have been determined by X-ray crystallography, and the Os&tbd1;N bond distances are 1.651 and 1.66 Å, respectively. The osmium(VI) nitrido complexes react rapidly with triphenylphosphine to produce the corresponding osmium(IV) phosphoraniminato complexes, [Os(IV)(NPPh(3))(L)Cl]. The osmium(IV) complexes exhibit reversible Os(V/IV) and Os(IV/III) couples in cyclic voltammetry. The E(1/2) values show linear correlations with the Hammett constants sigma(p) of the substituents on the Schiff base ligand. The structure of [Os(IV)(NPPh(3))(salophen)Cl] has been determined by X-ray crystallography. The rather long Os-N(P) bond length (1.92 Å) and acute Os-N-P bond angle (149.6 degrees ) suggest that there is no significant multiple-bond character in the Os-N bond. The kinetics of nitrogen atom transfer from a series of 5,5'-disubstituted salophen nitrido complexes to PPh(3) have been studied in CH(3)CN at 25.0 degrees C by stopped-flow spectrophotometric method. The following rate law was obtained: -d[Os(VI)]/dt = k(2)[Os(VI)][PPh(3)]. The reactivities of the complexes were found to follow a Hammett correlation of log(k(X)/k(H)) with sigma(p), with a rho value of 1.9 +/- 0.1. The positive rho value is consistent with a transition state involving electrophilic attack by the nitrido ligand on the phosphorus atom.