Nw. Mitzel et C. Lustig, The molecular and crystal structures of the tris(dimethylamino)phosphoranes (Me2N)(3)P-X (X = BH3, CH2, NH or O), J CHEM S DA, (18), 1999, pp. 3177-3183
Citations number
33
Categorie Soggetti
Inorganic & Nuclear Chemistry
Journal title
JOURNAL OF THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY-DALTON TRANSACTIONS
Single crystal X-ray diffraction studies and ab initio calculations up to t
he MP2/6-31G* level of theory were carried out for the isoelectronic compou
nds (Me2N)(3)PBH3, (Me2N)(3)PNH and (Me2N)(3)PO. The calculations predict a
ll three compounds to adopt C-s symmetry in the ground state. The alternati
ve geometries with local or total C-3 symmetry also correspond to local min
ima on the potential hypersurface. In the solid state (Me2N)(3)PBH3 and (Me
2N)(3)PNH do not obey exact C-s symmetry, but are close to it, while (Me2N)
(3)PO shows crystallographic mirror symmetry. The structural data are compa
red with earlier studies on (Me2N)(3)PCH2 and the free phosphine P(NMe2)(3)
, which both are also almost C-s symmetric. In the series (Me2N)(3)P-X (X =
BH3, CH2, NH or O) the P-X bond lengths decrease, the P-N (pseudo) in plan
e distances are 1.683(1), 1.698(4), 1.677(1) and 1.659(1) Angstrom, the (ps
eudo) out of plane P-N distances are (av. = average) 1.654(av.), 1.668(av.)
, 1.656(av.) and 1.649(1) Angstrom. The (pseudo) in plane angles X-P-N are
114.9(1), 122.4(4), 120.2(1) and 118.7(1)degrees, while the (pseudo) out of
plane angles X-P-N are 112.3(av.), 110.0(av.), 110.4(av.) and 110.0(av.)de
grees. In all structures the NMe2 groups in the (pseudo) plane of symmetry
are steeply pyramidal at nitrogen, while the (pseudo) out of plane NMe2 gro
ups are markedly flattened. The other structural parameters are also discus
sed in comparison. Ab initio calculations (MP2/6-31G*) on the isoelectronic
(Me2N)(3)PF+ predict this system to favour C-3 over C-s symmetry. In contr
ast, the parent system (H2N)(3)PF+ is predicted to prefer C-s symmetry.