Treatment of [Ir
2(
-Cl)
2(coe)
4] (coe = cyclooctene) with the short-bite bifunctional N,
P-donor l
igand 1-benzyl-2-imidazolyldi
phenyl
phos
phine (Ph
2PBnIm) resulted in the oxidativeaddition of the C(s
p3)-H bond from the benzyl grou
p to the metal to give [IrHCl{Ph
2P(CHPh)Im}(Ph
2PBnIm)] (
1), fully characterized by an X-ray study. The related l
igand2-
pyridyldi
phenyl
phos
phine (Ph
2PPy) reacted with [Ir
2(
-Cl)
2(coe)
4] to give the mononucleariridium(I) com
plex [IrCl(Ph
2PPy)
2] (
2), which showed P,N-chelating and P-coordinatedl
igands. Addition of Ph
2PBnIm to
2 produced the re
placement of the P-coordinated Ph
2PPyl
igand along with the benzyl C-H bond addition to iridium to give [IrHCl{Ph
2P(CHPh)Im}(Ph
2PPy)]. This result indicates that mononuclear com
plexes of the ty
pe [IrCl(Ph
2PBnIm)(L)] (L = P,N-chelating l
igand) are the active s
pecies undergoing the C-H bond activationreaction. A related C-H bond activation
process of the methylene grou
p of d
ppm occurs inthe reaction of [Ir
2(
-Cl)
2(coe)
4] with d
ppm in toluene to give the hydrido com
plex with onede
protonated d
ppm l
igand [IrHCl(Ph
2PCHPPh
2)(d
ppm)] (
4). On the other hand, the hydridemigrates to the methanide carbon in
4 on dissolving the com
plex in CD
2Cl
2 to establish anequilibrium with [IrCl(d
ppm)
2] without H/D exchange. Protonating agents such as HBF
4·Et
2Oand water reacted with com
plex
4 easily to give [IrHCl(d
ppm)
2]X (X = BF
4, OH). Themononuclear com
plex
2 was found to be highly reactive. Reactions of
2 with O
2, H
2, anddichloromethane gave the com
plexes [IrCl(O
2)(Ph
2PPy)
2], [IrCl(H)
2(Ph
2PPy)
2], and [IrCl
2(CH
2Cl)(Ph
2PPy)
2], res
pectively.