Mixed-ligand complexes,
trans-Fe(CO)
3LL' (L = PPh
3,L' = PPh
2Me, PPhMe
2, PMe
3,PPh
2Et, PEt
3, PPh
2CH=CH
2,PPh
2H, AsPh
3, P(OPh)
3; L =PMe
3, L' = PEt
3, PPh
2Et,PCy
3,PPh
2Me, PPhMe; L = PEt
3, L' =PPh
2Me; L = PPh
2H, L' =PPh
2CH=CH
2, PPh
2Et; L=AsPh
3, L' = PPhMe
2, P(OPh)
3,P(OMe)
3, P(OEt)
3), have been obtained from thestepwisereaction of phosphines with Fe(CO)
3(BDA) (BDA =benzylideneacetone) orFe(CO)
3(AsPh
3)
2and from the reaction of phosphine withFe(CO)
4PPh
3 in the presence of base.A strongnegative correlation exists between
2JPP coupling constant values andthe sum of thephosphine p
Ka values. By application ofquantitative analysis of ligand effects, it has beenshown that
2JPP for the mixed-ligandcomplexes correlates strongly with both
![](/images/gifchars/chi.gif)
and
Ear, butnot with
![](/images/gifchars/theta.gif)
. Although a near perfect fit is obtained from thethree-parameter equation, astatistical analysis suggests that for this small data set there are nopredictive advantagesover the one-parameter p
Ka model. It ispossible to calculate reliable
2JPPvalues for
trans-Fe(CO)
3L
2 complexes with either model.An X-ray structure of solid-state
trans-Fe(CO)
3(PEt
3)(PPh
3) shows equalFe-PEt
3 and Fe-PPh
3 bond distances,implying that bond strengthequalization
may occur when two rather different phosphines occupytrans coordination sites.