The Quest for Metal-Metal Quadruple and Quintuple Bonds in Metal Carbonyl Derivatives: Nb2(CO)9 and Nb2(CO)8

摘要

The synthesis by Power and co-workers of the first metal-metal quintuple bond (Science 2005, 310, 844) is a landmark in inorganic chemistry. The 18-electron rule suggests that Nb2(CO)9 and Nb2(CO)8 are candidates for binary metal carbonyls containing metal-metal quadruple and quintuple bonds, respectively. Density functional theory (MPW1PW91 and BP86) indeed predicts structures having very short Nb-Nb distances of ~2.5 A for Nb2(CO)9 and ~2.4 A for Nb2(CO)8 as well as relatively large Nb-Nb Wiberg bond indices supporting these high formal Nb-Nb bond orders. However, analysis of the frontier molecular orhitals of these unbridged structures suggests formal Nb≡Nb triple bonds and 16-electron metal configurations. This contrasts with an analysis of the frontier orbitals in a model chromium(1) alkyl linear CH3CrCrCH3, which confirms the generally accepted presence of chromium-chromium quintuple bonds in such molecules. The presence of Nb≡Nb triple bonds rather than quadruple or quintuple bonds in the Nb2(CO)_n (n = 9, 8) structures frees up d(xy) and d(x~2-y~2) orbitals for dπ→pπ* back-bonding to the carbonyl groups. The lowest energy Nb2(CO)_n structures (n = 9, 8) are not these unbridged structures but structures having bridging carbonyl groups of various types and formal Nb-Nb orders no higher than three. Thus, the two lowest energy Nb2(CO)9 structures have Nb=Nb triple bond distances of ~2.8 A and three semibridging carbonyl groups, leading to a 16-electron configuration rather than an 18-electron configuration for one of the niobium atoms. The lowest energy structure of the highly unsaturated Nb2(CO)8 is unusual since it has a formal single Nb-Nb bond of length ~3.1 A and two four-electron donor η~2-μ-CO groups, thereby giving each niobium atom only a 16-electron configuration.