Qua
ntitative temperature-depe
nde
nt ki
netic studies are reported of thermal reactio
ns of
Mo(CO)
6 that has bee
n newly e
ncapsulated i
n the
-cages of a Na
56Y zeolite host. U
nderstatic vacuum, Mo(CO)
6 u
ndergoes
parallel a
nchori
ng a
nd decarbo
nylatio
n reactio
ns, thelatter yieldi
ng (OC)
3Mo-Na
56Y directly a
nd the former resulti
ng i
n the developme
nt of acharacteristic six-ba
nd spectrum i
n the C-O stretchi
ng regio
n. Ki
netic a
nd spectroscopicevide
nce was obtai
ned for there bei
ng two differe
nt forms of (OC)
3Mo-Na
56Y. The activatio
nparameters are u
nusual, with very low e
nthalpies a
nd extremely
negative e
ntropies, viz.
Hntities/thermod.gif"> = 40 ± 3 kJ
mol
-1 a
nd
Sntities/thermod.gif"> = -185 ± 9 J K
-1 mol
-1 for a
nchori
ng a
nd decarbo
nylatio
n.This co
ntrasts with the typically high e
nthalpic a
nd positive e
ntropic factors reported forcorrespo
ndi
ng CO dissociative reactio
ns i
n xyle
ne (
Hntities/thermod.gif"> = 133 ± 6 kJ
mol
-1 a
nd
Sntities/thermod.gif"> = +28± 16 J K
-1 mol
-1) or eve
n the quite u
nusual values
Hntities/thermod.gif"> = 61 ± 5 kJ
mol
-1 a
nd
Sntities/thermod.gif"> = -139± 13 J K
-1 mol
-1 reported previously for
13CO excha
nge i
n Mo(CO)
6-Na
56Y. It is co
ncludedthat the i
nner surface of Na
56Y provides differe
nt activati
ng e
nviro
nme
nts for differe
ntreactio
ns, behavi
ng as multide
ntate a
nio
nic "zeolate"
nucleophiles, with varyi
ng
numbersof O
2- io
ns participati
ng i
n highly ordered tra
nsitio
n states. A com
mon i
ntermediate, withthree O
2- io
ns participati
ng i
n the a
nchori
ng a
nd decarbo
nylatio
n process, is proposed, o
newith two O
2- io
ns bei
ng proposed for the
13CO excha
nge reactio
n. The importa
nce oftemperature-depe
nde
nt time-resolved i
nfrared spectroscopy i
n elucidati
ng such i
ntimatemecha
nistic details is emphasized.