Neutral and ioni
c met
hylpalladium
compounds
containingtrinitrogen ligands (N-N-N)Pd(Me)(Y) (N-N-N = trinitrogen ligand; Y =Cl
-, CF
3SO
3-,4-Me-C
6H
4SO
3-)
have beensynt
hesized and
chara
cterized by spe
ctros
copi
c met
hods. T
he
coordination mode of t
hetrinitrogen ligand depends not only on t
he rigidity of t
he ligand butalso on t
he solvent andon t
he anion Y. Wit
h t
he weakly
coordinating ligandsCF
3SO
3- andBF
4- t
he trinitrogenligands readily adopt a terdentate
coordination mode, resulting in
complexes of t
he type[(
![](/images/gif<font color=)
chars/sigma.gif" BORDER=0 >
3-N-N-N)Pd(Me)]Y. Inmet
hyl
chloropalladium
compounds, t
he flexible trinitrogenligandsadopt a bidentate
coordination mode, resulting in t
he
complexes(
![](/images/gif<font color=)
chars/sigma.gif" BORDER=0 >
2-N-N-N)Pd(Me)(Cl),w
hereas t
he terdentate
coordination mode
has been found for rigidligands, resulting in t
heioni
c complexes [(
![](/images/gif<font color=)
chars/sigma.gif" BORDER=0 >
3-N-N-N)Pd(Me]Cl.Polar solvents, su
ch as a
cetonitrile, stabilize t
heformation of ioni
c complexes. T
he met
hylpalladium
compoundsreadily insert
carbonmonoxide, resulting in t
he fa
cile formation of t
he a
cetylpalladium
compounds (
![](/images/gif<font color=)
chars/sigma.gif" BORDER=0 >
2-N-N-N)Pd(C(O)Me)(Cl) and[(
![](/images/gif<font color=)
chars/sigma.gif" BORDER=0 >
3-N-N-N)Pd(C(O)Me)]Y (Y =Cl
-, OTf
-), in w
hi
ch t
he
coordinationmode of t
he ligands remains un
changed. CO insertion
half-lives oft
he met
hylpalladium
compounds s
how t
hat substituents adja
cent to one nitrogen donor atoma
ccelerate t
heinsertion for bot
h t
he neutral and t
he ioni
c complexes.Interestingly, t
he CO insertion
half-life is not
correlated to t
he rigidity of t
he trinitrogen ligand, sin
cet
he
compound [(terpy)Pd(Me)]Cl, w
hi
ch contains t
he rigid ligand terpy, undergoes afaster
carbon monoxideinsertion t
han analogous
complexes wit
h t
he flexible ligandsC
5H
4N-2-C(H)=N(CH
2)
2C
5H
4N.Alkene insertion
has been tested by rea
cting t
he a
cetylpalladium
compounds wit
h norbornadiene (NBD). T
he NBD-inserted
compounds
contain t
heC
7H
8C(O)CH
3 moiety
coordinatingin an unpre
cedented monodentate
![](/images/gif<font color=)
chars/sigma.gif" BORDER=0 >-C fas
hion. Pe
culiarly,[(terpy)Pd(C(O)Me)]Cl not onlyundergoes NBD insertion but does so at a very
hig
h rate. On t
hebasis of t
hese findings atentative me
chanism is suggested.