A convergent approach to the synthesis of multimetallic dithiolene complexes

Controlled base hydrolysis of one or both of the protected 1,2-dithiolene chelates of 1,3,5,7-tetrathia- s-indacene-2,6-dione (OCS 2C 6H 2S 2CO) enables the stepwise synthesis of di- and trimetallic complexes with 1,2,4,5-benzenetetrathiolate as the connector. Treatment of OCS 2C 6H 2S 2CO with MeO (-), followed by [NiBr 2(dcpe)] [dcpe = 1,2-bis(dicyclohexylphosphino)ethane], yields [(dcpe)Ni(S 2C 6H 2S 2CO)] ( 4). The reaction of 4 with EtO (-), followed by [MX 2(dcpe)] (X = halide), yields [(dcpe)Ni(S 2C 6H 2S 2)M(dcpe)] [M = Ni ( 5a), Pd ( 5b)]. Deprotection of the 1,3-dithiol-2-one group of 4, followed by introduction of (1)/ 2 equiv of MX 2 and then I 2, yields the neutral trimetallic compounds [(dcpe)Ni(S 2C 6H 2S 2)] 2M [M = Ni ( 6a), Pt ( 6b)]. Tetrahedralization at nickel is observed in 5a, which density functional theory calculations attribute to second-order Jahn-Teller effects, while 6a and 6b display an end-to-end folding of approximately 46 degrees . A color darkening is observed in moving from 4 to compounds 6 due to the increasing size of the conjugated metal-organic pi system. Intense, broad absorptions in the near-IR are observed for 6a and 6b.