Facile N-C bond cleavage and arene reduction by a transient uranium(ii) complex
Complexes of uranium(ii) remain extremely rare and their reactivity is practically unexplored. Here we report that the reduction of the heteroleptic bis-aryloxide U(iii) complex [U(κ6-{(tBu2ArO)2Me2-cyclam})I], A, yields a rare and highly reactive U(ii) intermediate that enables a rare example of intramolecular uranium mediated N-C cleavage and effects arene reduction resulting in the isolation of the U(iv) complex [U{κ5-((tBu2ArO)Me2-cyclam)}{κ2-(tBu2ArOCH2)}] (2) and of the inverse-sandwich complex [{U(κ5-{(tBu2ArO)2Me2-cyclam})}2(μ-η6:η6-benzene)] (3) respectively. Moreover, the U(ii) solvent-dependent reactivity results in the formation of a putative U-N2 complex in diethyl ether. Computational, EPR and magnetic studies indicate the electronic structure of 3 to be an equilibrium between two possible electronic structures very close in energy: (U(iv)-arene4−-U(iv) and U(iii)-arene2−-U(iii)). These results indicate that polydentate amine-phenolate ligands can be used to access highly reactive U(ii) intermediates and that provides evidence that U(ii) species are involved in the formation of inverse sandwich complexes.
2-s2.0-105010348945
40636582
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Instituto Superior Técnico
INSA Toulouse
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
INSA Toulouse
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
2025
REVIEWED
EPFL
| Funder | Funding(s) | Grant Number | Grant URL |
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne | |||
Swiss National Science Foundation | 212723,217133 | ||
FCT | UIDB/00100/2020 | ||
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