Three-Coordinate Rhodium Complexes in Low Oxidation States

The isolation of simultaneously low‐coordinate and low‐valent compounds is a timeless challenge for preparative chemists. This work showcases the preparation and full characterization of tri‐coordinate rhodium(‐I) and rhodium(0) complexes as well as a rare rhodium(I) complex. Reduction of [{Rh(μ‐Cl)(IPr)(dvtms)}2] (1 , IPr=1,3‐bis(2,6‐diisopropylphenyl)imidazolyl‐2‐ylidene; dvtms=divinyltetramethyldisiloxane) with KC8 gave the trigonal complexes K[Rh(IPr)(dvtms)] and [Rh(IPr)(dvtms)], whereas the cation [Rh(IPr)(dvtms)]+ results from their oxidation or by abstraction of chloride from 1 with silver salts. The paramagnetic Rh0 complex is a unique fully metal‐centered radical with the unpaired electron in the dz2 orbital. The Rh(‐I) complex reacts with PPh3 with replacement of the NHC ligand, and behaves as a nucleophile, which upon reaction with [AuCl(PPh3)] generates the trigonal pyramidal complex [(IPr)(dvtms)Rh‐Au(PPh3)] with a metal–metal bond between two d10 metal centers.
The generous financial support from MINECO/FEDER/AGE (CTQ2017‐83421‐P, C.T.), Gobierno de Aragón/FEDER (GA/FEDER, Inorganic Molecular Architecture Group E08_17R; C.T.) and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) (TOP Grant 716.015.001, BdB) is gratefully acknowledged. V.V.‐I. thanks MINECO/FEDER for a FPI fellowship.