Stalking and Capturing Elusive Monomeric Copper Hydrides
The high activity of molecular copper hydrides in the selective insertion of unsaturated hydrocarbons has led to their increased use in organic reactivity, yet monomeric LCuH complexes are notoriously elusive. Copper hydrides with NHC (NHC = N-heterocyclic carbene) ligands typically exist as dimers, [(NHC)Cu(m-H)]2. The kinetics of insertion of organic substrates into the Cu-H bond are either first-order or one-half order in [(NHC)Cu(m-H)]2, depending on the organic substrate. Remote ligand modification can have a large effect on the reactivity, even when the substituents are six bonds away from the metal. Destabilization of the [(NHC)Cu(m-H)]2 dimer relative to the (NHC)Cu-H monomer enables isolation of a monomeric (NHC)CuH.
Hosted by Professor Kate Waldie