Silyl-bridged dinuclear palladium(I)
and platinum(I) complexes with the composition M
2(SiH
3)
2(PH
3)
2 (M = Pd or Pt) were theoretically investigated with DFT, MP2 to MP4(SDQ),
and CCSD(T) methods. These complexes are more stable than two M(PH
3)(SiH
3) complexesby 80.6 kcal/mol for M = Pd
and 105.6 kcal/mol for M = Pt, where the values calculatedwith the CCSD(T) method are given hereafter. Although this complex is understood to takethe silyl-bridged form in a formal sense, the NMR chemical shifts of Si
and H atoms
andthe Laplacian of electron density indicate that the electronic structure of the SiH
3 groupsomewhat shifts toward that of the silylene + hydride groups
and the agostic interaction isresponsible for this interesting electronic structure. These complexes are represented asM
2(<
IMG SRC="/images/entities/mgr.gif">-
2-H···SiH
2)
2(PH
3)
2, in which the formula of H···SiH
2 indicates that this group is nota pure silyl group but possesses the characteristics of the hydride
and ![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
-silylene groups toa considerable extent. The planar geometry of this compound comes from the presence ofthe three-center two-electron (3c-2e) interaction between the silyl sp
3 orbital
and the M-Mmoiety, while these complexes become nonplanar in the absence of the 3c-2e interaction.The agostic interaction between the Si-H bond
and the M center contributes to thestabilization energies of 8.0
and 17.3 kcal/mol for M = Pd
and Pt, respectively. The strongeragostic interaction
and the larger stabilization energy of Pt
2(
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
-
2-H···SiH
2)
2(PH
3)
2 than thoseof the Pd analogue result from the fact that the d orbital of Pt exp
ands more than that ofPd.