R. Glaser et al., CRYSTAL-STRUCTURE OF TRANS-FE(CO)3(PPH3)2, TRICARBONYLBIS(TRIPHENYLPHOSPHINE)IRON(0), AND AB-INITIO STUDY OF THE BONDING IN TRANS-FE(CO)3(PH3)2, Organometallics, 13(7), 1994, pp. 2578-2586
The selective one-step preparation of trans-Fe(CO)3(Pph3)2, 1, in the
absence of Fe(CO)4-(Pph3) has made it possible to obtain 1 pure and in
crystalline form. trans-Fe(CO)3(Pph3)2 crystallizes in the orthorhomb
ic space group Pbca with cell parameters a = 18.216(5) angstrom, b = 1
7.0380(10) angstrom, c = 21.804(3) angstrom, and Z = 8; R = 0.042 and
R(w) = 0.056 for 3891 independent reflections with I > 2.0sigma(I). Th
e crystal structure of 1 is compared to Ru(CO)3(Pph3)2, Os-(CO)3(Pph3)
2, Fe(CO)2(CS)(Pph3)2, and a selection of complexes of the types trans
-Fe(CO)3-(PR3)2 (R = Ph, NMe2, Ome) and trans-Fe(CO)4PR3 (R = Ph, Nme2
, CMe3, SiMe3). Effects of equatorial CO substitution in 1 by the diaz
onium ion and nitrile ligands are discussed. Ab initio calculations th
at employ effective core potential basis sets at the Hartree-Fock leve
l and which include perturbational corrections for electron correlatio
n at the MP2 level are reported fortrans-Fe(CO)3(PH3)2. Good agreement
between theory and experiment can only be obtained at correlated leve
ls of theory in conjunction with double-zeta quality basis sets on iro
n and all ligands. Population analyses are employed to examine the eff
ects of electron correlation and to delineate the iron-ligand bonding.
Electron correlation serves overall to reduce the molecular quadrupol
e moment. Comparison between the crystal structure of 1 and the theore
tical structure of the model system allow differentiation between intr
insic structural preferences and packing effects. In particular, the c
omparison points out that the Fe-P bond length differences and the non
linearity of the P-Fe-P backbone are not intrinsic bonding features bu
t are caused by the packing.