Dalton Trans. 2015 May 14;44(18):8625-39. doi: 10.1039/c5dt00448a.

Iridium-mediated C-S bond activation and transformation: organoiridium(III) thioether, thiolato, sulfinato and thiyl radical compounds. Synthesis, mechanistic, spectral, electrochemical and theoretical aspects.

Dalton transactions (Cambridge, England : 2003)

Ujjwal Das, Tapas Ghorui, Basab Adhikari, Sima Roy, Shuvam Pramanik, Kausikisankar Pramanik

PMID: 25846942 DOI: 10.1039/c5dt00448a

Abstract

An attractive methodology, single-electron transfer (SET) reductive cleavage of the C-S bond mediated by a metal in the presence of the external stimuli PPh3, has been applied to the kinetically inert IrCl3 in order to synthesize the thiolato complex [Ir(III)(L(S))Cl(PPh3)2] 3 from precursor thioether complexes [Ir(III)(L(SR))Cl2(PPh3)] (R = alkyl) 2. The aforesaid cleavage process in association with (arene)C-H activation furnishes a new class of organosulfur compounds of iridium(III). The thiolato chelate 3 displays a reversible oxidative wave at 0.75 V vs. Ag/AgCl signifying its remarkable nucleophilic character. The high electron density on the thiolato-S vis-à-vis superior nucleophilicity can be envisaged through the formation of a number of S-centered derivatives. This observation has been corroborated with the nature of HOMO in 3, which assumes 49% of S(3p). Notably, the facile oxidative nature of 3 makes it an apposite precursor for metal-stabilized thiyl radical species. Indeed, iridium(III)-stabilized 3˙(+) can be generated by chemical/electrochemical means. The axial EPR spectra with g ∼ 2.0 along with theoretical analysis of SOMO (S(3p) 24% + Ph(π) 43% + d(yz) 15%) and spin density (ρ(S) = +0.543, ρ(Ph) = +0.315, ρ(Ir) = +0.151) of one-electron oxidized 3˙(+) validate the iridium-stabilized thiyl radical description. This observation suggests that the CNS coordination mode in thiophenolato complex 3 is redox-active. Complex 3 is very prone to S-centered oxidation under normal aerobic conditions to yield metallosulfoxide [Ir(III)(L(SO2))Cl(PPh3)2] 4. The enhanced nucleophilicity of thiolato-S can also be manifested via the smooth S-C bond making process with alkyl halides (R'X, R' = Me and allyl; X = Br, I) and subsequent formation of thioether complexes of type [Ir(III)(L(SR'))ClX(PPh3)] 5. The organosulfur compounds of iridium(III) exhibit rich spectral properties including luminescence and the origin of these transitions is scrutinized with DFT and TD-DFT methods.

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• Journal Article