Novel palladium complexes with BPPFA (
N,
N-dimethyl-1-[2,1'-bis(diphenylphosphino)ferrocenyl]ethylamine) and the newly prepared ligand 1,1'-bis(diphenylphosphino)-2-methylferrocene (BPPFMe,
1) have been synthesized. Racemic BPPFA reacts with Pd
2(dba)
3·CHCl
3 in the presence of electron-withdrawing alkenes to give palladium(0) complexesPd(BPPFA)(alkene), where alkene = dimethyl fumarate (
2), maleic anhydride (
3). Displacement of weak donor ligands from the appropriate palladium(II) precursors leads to thederivatives [Pd(
3-2-Me-C
3H
4)(BPPFA)]TfO (
4), Pd(C
6F
5)
2(BPPFA) (
5), Pd(C
6F
5)
2(BPPFMe)(
6), PdMe
2(BPPFA) (
7), and PdClMe(BPPFA) (
8). Complexes
2-
4 and
8 each exist in solutionas two diastereomers that do not interconvert at room temperature on the NMR time scale.In all mononuclear complexes BPPFA is P,P-coordinated to palladium. When PdClX(cod) (X= Cl, Me) is reacted with (
RC,
SP)-BPPFA in a Pd:L ratio higher than 1:1, polynuclear speciesare formed. A Pd:L ratio of 2:1 leads to the tetranuclear derivatives {
cis-PdClX(
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
-
3-BPPFA)}
2{PdX(
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
-Cl)
2PdX} (X = Me (
9), Cl (
10)), while a ratio of 1.5:1 gives the trinuclear complexes{
cis-PdClX(
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
-
3-BPPFA)}
2(
trans-PdClX) (X = Me (
11), Cl (
12)) along with the correspondingtetra- and mononuclear derivatives. Mechanistic studies concerning the formation of thetetranuclear complexes have shown that a P
,P to P,N coordination shift and Pd-P bondrupture are feasible processes. Variable-temperature
1H NMR studies have provided evidenceof Pd-N interactions in complexes
2,
5,
7, and
8 that involve an unprecedented terdentate
3N,P,P chelate coordination of BPPFA to palladium. The pentafluorophenyl complexes
5and
6 each exist in solution as two conformers that are interconvertible by torsional twistingof the Cp rings. In the case of complex
5 this interconversion process is slowed at lowtemperature to such an extent that both conformers can be observed separately by NMRspectroscopy. This phenomenon is presumably due to the Pd-N interaction. The molecularstructures of
2M and
8M (
M = major isomer) have been determined by X-ray diffraction.