Proton walk in the aqueous platinum complex [TpPtMeCO] via a sticky sigma-methane ligand

Both experimental and theoretical evidence suggest that the proton exchange between water and the methyl group in [TpPt(CO)CH(3)] (1, Tp=hydridotripyrazolylborate) involves the formation and deprotonation of a "sticky" sigma-methane ligand. The efficiency of this nontrivial process has been attributed to the spatial orientation of functional groups that operate in concert to activate a water molecule and then achieve a multistep proton walk from water to an uncoordinated pyrazolyl nitrogen atom, to the methyl ligand, and then back to the nitrogen atom and water. The overall proton-exchange process has been proposed to involve an initial attack of water at the CO ligand in 1 with concerted deprotonation by the uncoordinated pyrazolyl nitrogen atom. The pyrazolium proton is then transferred to the Pt--CH(3) bond, leading to a sigma-methane intermediate. Subsequent rotation and deprotonation of the sigma-methane ligand, followed by reformation of 1 and water, result in scrambling of the methyl protons with the hydrogen atoms of water. An alternative two-step process that involves oxidative addition and reductive elimination has also been considered. The two competing mechanistic routes from 1 into [D(3)]-1, as well as the conversion of 1 into [TpPt(CH(3))H(2)] (2), have been examined by density functional theory (DFT) using a variety of exchange-correlation methods, primarily PW6B95, which was recently shown to be highly accurate for evaluating reactions of late-transition-metal complexes. The key role played by the free pyrazolyl nitrogen atom, acting as a proton carrier that abstracts a proton from water and transfers the proton to the Pt--CH(3) bond, is reminiscent of the dual functionality of histidine in the catalytic triad of natural serine proteases.