Benchmarking the Fluxional Processes of Organometallic Piano-Stool Complexes

The correlation consistent Composite Approach for transition metals (ccCA-TM) and density functional theory (DFT) computations have been applied to investigate the fluxional mechanisms of cyclooctatetraene tricarbonyl chromium ((COT)Cr(CO)₃) and 1,3,5,7-tetramethylcyclooctatetraene tricarbonyl chromium, molybdenum, and tungsten ((TMCOT)M(CO)₃ (M = Cr, Mo, and W)) complexes. The geometries of (COT)Cr(CO)₃ were fully characterized with the PBEPBE, PBE0, B3LYP, and B97-1 functionals with various basis set/ECP combinations, while all investigated (TMCOT)M(CO)₃ complexes were fully characterized with the PBEPBE, PBE0, and B3LYP methods. The energetics of the fluxional dynamics of (COT)Cr(CO)₃ were examined using the correlation consistent Composite Approach for transition metals (ccCA-TM) to provide reliable energy benchmarks for corresponding DFT results. The PBE0/BS1 results are in semiquantitative agreement with the ccCA-TM results. Various transition states were identified for the fluxional processes of (COT)Cr(CO)₃. The PBEPBE/BS1 energetics indicate that the 1,2-shift is the lowest energy fluxional process, while the B3LYP/BS1 energetics (where BS1 = H, C, O: 6-31G(d'); M: mod-LANL2DZ(f)-ECP) indicate the 1,3-shift having a lower electronic energy of activation than the 1,2-shift by 2.9 kcal mol^-1. Notably, PBE0/BS1 describes the (CO)₃ rotation to be the lowest energy process, followed by the 1,3-shift. Six transition states have been identified in the fluxional processes of each of the (TMCOT)M(CO)₃ complexes (except for (TMCOT)W(CO)₃), two of which are 1,2-shift transition states. The lowest-energy fluxional process of each (TMCOT)M(CO)₃ complex (computed with the PBE0 functional) has a ΔG^‡ of 12.6, 12.8, and 13.2 kcal mol^-1 for Cr, Mo, and W complexes, respectively. Good agreement was observed between the experimental and computed ¹H-NMR and ¹³C-NMR chemical shifts for (TMCOT)Cr(CO)₃ and (TMCOT)Mo(CO)₃ at three different temperature regimes, with coalescence of chemically equivalent groups at higher temperatures.