The p
Ka va
lues of a cationic se
leny
l- (
5H+) and a benzothieny
lcarbene comp
lex (
6H+) and rateconstants for the reversib
le deprotonation of these comp
lexes by water, carboxy
late ions, primary a
liphaticamines, secondary a
licyc
lic amines (
5H+ on
ly), and OH
- (
5H+ on
ly) were determined in 50% MeCN-50%water (v/v) at 25
C. In comparison with neutra
l Fischer-type carbene comp
lexes such as
1H, the cationiccomp
lexes
5H+ and
6H+ are much more acidic, and the intrinsic barriers to proton transfer are substantia
llyhigher. This paper discusses a variety of factors that contribute to these differences, with the most importantones being that
5H+ and
6H+ are cationic, which makes the C
5H
5(NO)(PPh
3)Re moiety a stronger
-acceptorthan the (CO)
5M moieties, coup
led with the fact that the deprotonated forms of
5H+ and
6H+ are aromaticmo
lecu
les.