In situ electrolysis within an optically transparent thin-layer electrochemical (OTTLE) cell was appliedat 293-243 K in combination with FTIR spectroscopy to monitor spectral changes in the carbonylstretching region accompanying oxidation of four tetracarbonyl olefin complexes of tungsten(
0), viz.,
trans-[W(CO)
4(
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BORDER=
0 >
2-ethene)
2],
trans-[W(CO)
4(
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0 >
2-norbornene)
2], [W(CO)
4(
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0 >
4-cycloocta-1,5-diene)], and[W(CO)
4(
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0 >
4-norbornadiene)]. In all cases, the one-electron-oxidized radical cations (17-electron complexes)have been identified by their characteristic
![](/images/<font color=)
gifchars/nu.
gif" BORDER=
0 >(C
![](/images/entities/tbd1.<font color=)
gif">O) patterns. For the bidentate diene ligands, the
cisstereochemistry is essentially fixed in both the 18- and 17-electron complexes. The radical cation of the
trans-bis(ethene) complex was observed only at 243 K, while at room temperature it isomerized rapidlyto the corresponding
cis-isomer. The thermal stability of the three studied radical cations in the
cisconfiguration correlates with the relative strength of the W-CO bonds in the positions
trans to the olefinligand, which are more affected by the oxidation than the axial W-CO bonds. For the bulky norborneneligands, their
trans configuration in the bis(norbornene) complex remains preserved after the oxidationin the whole temperature range studied. The limited thermal stability of the radical cations of the
trans-bis(alkene) complexes is ascribed to dissociation of the alkene ligands. The spectroelectrochemical resultsare in very good agreement with data obtained earlier by DFT (B3LYP) calculations.