Kinetics of disubstitution reactions with the substrate ligands of monosubstituted derivatives of Co(CO)3NO

The disubstitution reaction Co(NO)(CO)2L+L = Co(CO)(NO)L2+CO has been investigated for a series of phosphine and phosphite ligands, in toluene solution up to about 65°C. Dissociative and associative reaction paths are generally competitive, their relative weights being strongly dependent on the properties of the ligand L.