The dire
ct addition of ni
ckel powder to the rea
ction mixtures of1,3-dialkyl-4,5-dioxoimidazolidine-2-thione (
1)with the thionation Lawesson reagent produ
ces[Ni
II(R
2timdt
-)
2](R
2timdt =1,3-dialkylmidazolidine-2,4,5-trithione).These
complexes belong to a new
class of ni
ckel-dithiolenes,showing remarkably high absorption (
![](/images/gif<font color=)
chars/epsilon.gif" BORDER=0 >
![](/images/entities/ap.gif)
80 000dm
3 mol
-1cm
-1,
![](/images/gif<font color=)
chars/lambda.gif" BORDER=0 >
![](/images/entities/ap.gif)
1000 nm) in the near-infraredregion (near-IR), a
ccompanied by high photo
chemi
calstabilitythat makes these
complexes promising near-IR dyes. In the absen
ceof ni
ckel the rea
ction yields generally the
compounds4,5,6,7-tetrathio
cino[1,2-
b:3,4-
b']diimidazolyl-1,3,8,10-tetraalkane-2,9-dithione(
2) instead of theexpe
cted 1,3-dialkylimidazolidine-2,4,5-trithione. However, withbulky substituents on the nitrogen atoms, well-
chara
cterized rea
ction produ
cts have not been obtained until now.Only in the R = Pr
i case, the newtetrathio
cinoisomer(4,5,9,10-tetrathio
cino[1,2-
b:5,6-
b']diimidazolyl-1,3,6,8-tetraisopropane-2,7-dithione(
3) in tra
ce amountsand the bis(1,3-diisopropyl-2-thioxoimidazolin-4-yl) disulfide(
4) were isolated from the rea
ction with theLawessonreagent and P
4S
10, respe
ctively. Rea
ctionof
5 with different amounts of I
2 leads to avariety of produ
cts, andamong them the following derivatives have been
chara
cterized:[Ni
II(Pr
i2timdt
-)
2]·2I
2(
6) a neutral addu
ct inwhi
ch ea
ch I
2 mole
cule intera
cts with ea
ch peripheralthione sulfur atom of
5;[Ni
II(Pr
i2timdt
-)
2]·2I
2·
1/
2I
2(
7),whi
ch differs from
6 with the presen
ce of half diiodine as aguest; with a larger diiodine ex
cess (starting from a1:10 molar ratio) a partial oxidation of
5 is a
chieved and[Ni
II(Pr
i2timdt
-)
2][Ni
II(I)
2(Pr
i2timdt)
2]·5I
2(
8) is formed,a ligand mixed-valen
ce
compound in whi
ch the square-planar
complex
5 and the o
ctahedral
complex[Ni
II(I)
2(Pr
i2timdt)
2] (the ligand in neutral form) are bound by diiodinemole
cules in su
ch a way that a sequen
ce of 12 iodineatoms(S·I
2···I
2···I
-···I
2···I
-···I
2···I
2·S)is formed. Spe
ctros
copi
c and X-ray diffra
ctometri
c studies of
3(mono
clini
c, spa
ce group
P2
1/
n,
a = 13.104(6) Å,
b = 15.091(6) Å,
c = 6.067(7) Å,
![](/images/gif<font color=)
chars/beta2.gif" BORDER=0 ALIGN="middle"> = 103.00(2)
![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
,
Z = 2),
4(mono
clini
c, spa
ce group
C2/
c,
a =18.717(5) Å,
b = 8.846(5) Å,
c =14.475(5) Å,
![](/images/gif<font color=)
chars/beta2.gif" BORDER=0 ALIGN="middle"> = 97.78(2)
![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
,
Z = 4),
5(orthorhombi
c, spa
ce group
Pna2
1,
a= 18.806(5) Å,
b = 5.628(7) Å,
c= 23.665(5) Å,
Z = 4),
7 (tri
clini
c,spa
cegroup
P![](/images/entities/onema<font color=)
cr.gif">,
a = 9.126(7) Å,
b = 9.153(7) Å,
c = 12.924(6) Å,
![](/images/gif<font color=)
chars/alpha.gif" BORDER=0> = 82.11(2),
![](/images/gif<font color=)
chars/beta2.gif" BORDER=0 ALIGN="middle"> = 70.14(2),
![](/images/gif<font color=)
chars/gamma.gif" BORDER=0 > = 72.51(2)
![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
,
Z =1), and
8 (mono
clini
c, spa
ce group
C2/
c,
a = 21.971(6) Å,
b = 28.081(5) Å,
c = 12.207(8) Å,
![](/images/gif<font color=)
chars/beta2.gif" BORDER=0 ALIGN="middle"> = 93.57(2)
![](/images/entities/deg.gif)
,
Z = 4) are given.