Transition metal complexes of N1,N1,N2,N2-tetrakis(diphenylphosphaneyl)-ethane-1,2-diamine [(Ph2P)2NCH2CH2N(PPh2)2]

The reaction of ethylenediamine with four equivalents of chlorodiphenylphosphine in the presence of a base produced tetraphosphine [(Ph2P)2NCH2CH2N(PPh2)2] (1) which on further treatment with H2O2 (30% aq.) gave tetrakis(phosphineoxide) [(Ph2P(O))2NCH2CH2N((O)PPh2)2] (2). Treatment of 1 with two equivalents of Mo0, W0, NiII and RuII precursors yielded [{Mo(CO)4}2(Ph2P)2NCH2CH2N(PPh2)2] (3), [{W(CO)4}2(Ph2P)2NCH2CH2N(PPh2)2] (4) [{NiCl2}2(Ph2P)2NCH2CH2N(PPh2)2] (5) and [{Ru(η5-C5H5)PPh3}2(Ph2P)2NCH2CH2N(PPh2)2][Cl]2 (6). The reactions of 1 with [Cu(NCCH3)4][BF4] and [AuCl(SMe2)] resulted in the formation of di- and tetranuclear complexes [{Cu(NCCH3)2}2(Ph2P)2NCH2CH2N(PPh2)2][BF4]2 (7) and [{Au2Cl2}2(Ph2P)2NCH2CH2N(PPh2)2] (8), respectively. All the compounds were characterized by various spectroscopic methods and compounds 1–6 and 8 were characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis.