Treatment of 1-P
iPr
2-indene or 1-P
iPr
2-2-NMe
2-indene (
1a) with elemental sulfur afforded 3-
iPr
2P(S)-indene or 1-
iPr
2P(S)-2-NMe
2-indene (
4a) in 81% and 85% isolated yield, respectively. Addition of
4a to [(COD)M(THF)
2]
+BF
4-afforded the corresponding [(COD)M(
2-
N,
S-
4a)]
+BF
4- complexes (M = Rh,
5a, 76%; M = Ir,
5b, 59%; COD =
4-1,5-cyclooctadiene), which were found to exhibit temperature-dependent NMR spectral features that wererationalized in terms of a dynamic process involving M-NMe
2 dissociation, rotation about the indenyl-NMe
2 bond,inversion at nitrogen, and re-coordination to M. Analysis of variable-temperature NMR data collected for
5a and
5beach yielded a value for
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of ca. 14 kcal/mol for this process. Exposure of
5a or
5b to NaN(SiMe
3)
2 generatedthe corresponding (COD)M(
2-
C,
S-1-
iPr
2P(
S)-2-NMe
2-(
C1-indenyl)) complex (M = Rh,
6a, 70%; M = Ir,
6b, 86%)in which the metal is incorporated into an M-C-P-S ring via coordination to the indenyl ring in an
1-fashion, aswell as to sulfur. Alternatively, complex
6b was prepared cleanly via lithiation of
4a followed by treatment with 0.5equiv of [(COD)IrCl]
2. The ability of
5a,b and
6a,b to mediate the addition of triethylsilane to styrene was alsoexplored, and their performance was compared with that of Wilkinson's Catalyst ((PPh
3)
3RhCl) and Crabtree'scatalyst ([(COD)Ir(PCy
3)(Py)]
+PF
6-; Cy = cyclohexyl; Py = pyridine). Single-crystal X-ray diffraction data are providedfor
4a, 2-NMe
2-3-
iPr
2P(S)-indene (
4b),
6a, and
6b.