Photoreactivity of the triphenylphosphine adduct of methyl(trioxo)rhenium(VII) induced by ligand-to-metal charge transfer excitation

Triphenylphosphine forms an adduct with MeReO3. The yellow colour of this c ompound is attributed to a (PPh3-->Re-VII) ligand-to-metal charge transfer (LMCT) absorption at lambda(max) = 380 nm. LMCT excitation (lambda(irr) = 4 05 nm) leads to the reduction of Re(VII) to Re(V). This reaction has been p reviously observed as a thermal process (Herrmann et al., Organometallics 1 3 (1994) 4531. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.