Ultraviolet irradiation of [Rh(
5-C
5H
5)(PMe
3)(C
2H
4)] (
1a), [Rh(
5-C
5H
5)(PPh
3)(C
2H
4)] (
1b), and [Rh(
5-C
5H
4CF
3)(PMe
3)(C
2H
4)] (
1c) (collectively abbreviated as [Rh(Cp')(PR
3)(C
2H
4)]) in the presence ofHBpin (pinacolate = pin = 1,2-O
2C
2Me
4) results in elimination of C
2H
4 and B-H oxidative addition,leading to the formation of boryl hydride complexes [Rh(Cp')(Bpin)(H)(PR
3)]. Complete conversion isachieved in liquid HBpin or by photolysis in hexane at -10
C. Similarly, photolysis of
1a-
c in thepresence of B
2pin
2 in hexane at -10
C leads to B-B oxidative addition products, [Rh(Cp')(Bpin)
2(PR
3)]. Irradiation at room temperature leads to formation of [Rh(Cp')(PR
3)
2] in addition to the desiredproducts. The rhodium boryl products were characterized by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy and, in thecase of [Rh(
5-C
5H
5)(Bpin)(H)(PPh
3)], by X-ray crystallography. The structure reveals a Rh-B distanceof 2.0196(15) Å. The H···B separation of 2.09(2) Å together with the bond angles at the metal suggestsome residual H···B interaction. Photolysis of
1a-
c in the presence of tertiary and secondary silanes(HSiEt
3, HSi
iPr
3, HSi(OMe)
3, HSiMe
2Et, HSiMeEt
2, and H
2SiEt
2) results in rhodium silyl hydridecomplexes [Rh(Cp')(SiR'
2R' ')(H)(PR
3)]. The structure of [Rh(
5-C
5H
5)(Si
iPr
3)(H)(PMe
3)] was determinedby single-crystal X-ray diffraction, yielding a Rh-Si bond length of 2.3617(3) Å and a Rh-H bondlength of 1.508(17) Å. The H···Si distance of 2.278(17) Å and the very unequal H-Rh-P and H-Rh-Si angles suggest some residual H···Si interaction. Competition reactions were performed with
1b dissolvedin hexane in the presence of HBpin and B
2pin
2 simultaneously.
31P NMR measurements, made afterbrief irradiation, showed a slight preference for B-B oxidative addition over B-H oxidative addition.Similar experiments with three-way competition among HBpin, HSiMe
2Et, and HC
6F
5, analyzed by
1HNMR spectroscopy, showed negligible selectivity among H-B, H-C, and H-Si oxidative addition.Molecular structures were also determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction for
1b,
1c, [Rh(
5-C
5H
5)(PPh
3)
2], and [Rh(
5-C
5H
5)Cl
2(PPh
3)].