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Strong Electronic Couplings between Ferrocenyl Centers Mediated by Bis-Ethynyl/Butadiynyl Diruthenium Bridges Guo-Lin Xu,† Robert J. Crutchley,*,‡ Maria C. DeRosa,‡ Qing-Jiang Pan,§ Hong-Xing Zhang,§ Xiaoping Wang,| and Tong Ren*,†,⊥ Contribution from the Departments of Chemistry, UniVersity of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida 33146, Carleton UniVersity, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada, State Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, Jilin UniVersity, Changchun 130023, P. R. China, and Texas A&M UniVersity, College Station, Texas 77842 Received May 26, 2005; E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: A series of trans-(FcC2n)Ru2(Y-DMBA)4(C2mFc) with n, m ) 1 and 2 and Y-DMBA as N,N′-dimethylbenzamidinate or N,N′-dimethyl-(3-methoxy)benzamidinate have been synthesized and characterized. The intramolecular Fc‚‚‚Fc distances, established through single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies, range from 11.6 to 16.6 Å. Results from both voltammetric and spectroelectrochemical studies indicate that the (-C2n)Ru2(Y-DMBA)4(C2m-) fragments are among the most efficient mediators of intramolecular hole transfer. Density-functional calculations offer both the insight on the ground-state electronic properties and unambiguous assignment for the observed electronic absorptions.

Introduction

Charge transfer (CT) processes are paramount to both chemistry and biology and have been extensively researched for the past fifty years.1-4 In addition to the research of intramolecular CT processes in bulk media, recent years have witnessed a new thrust to understand CT processes on the nanoscale,5 especially with respect to active molecules in molecular electronic devices.6 Linear conjugated molecules, both organic and inorganic, are among the most thoroughly investigated. Transition metal complexes containing σ-polyynyl ligand have been studied in many laboratories as potential molecular wires.7-14 Notable metal complex units that lead to significant †

University of Miami. Carleton University. § Jilin University. | Texas A&M University. ⊥ Current address: Department of Chemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907. ‡

(1) Marcus, R. A.; Sutin, N. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1985, 811, 265. (2) Barbara, P. F.; Meyer, T. J.; Ratner, M. A. J. Phys. Chem. 1996, 100, 13148. (3) Endicott, J. F. ComprehensiVe Coordination Chemistry II: From Biology to Nanotechnology; Elsevier/Pergamon: Oxford, 2004; Vol. 7. (4) Creutz, C.; Brunschwig, B. S.; Sutin, N. ComprehensiVe Coordination Chemistry II: From Biology to Nanotechnology; Elsevier/Pergamon: Oxford; New York, 2004; Vol. 7. (5) Adams, D. M. et al. J. Phys. Chem. B 2003, 107, 6668. (6) Molecular Nanoelectronics; Reed, M. A., Lee, T., Eds.; American Scientific Publishers: Stevenson Ranch, CA, 2003. (7) Bruce, M. I.; Low, P. J. AdV. Organomet. Chem. 2004, 50, 179. (8) Low, P. J.; Bruce, M. I. AdV. Organomet. Chem. 2001, 48, 71. (9) Paul, F.; Lapinte, C. Coord. Chem. ReV. 1998, 178-180, 431. (10) Paul, F.; Lapinte, C. In Unusual Structures and Physical Properties in Organometallic Chemistry; Gielen, M., Willem, R., Wrackmeyer, B., Eds.; Wiley: West Sussex, 2002. (11) Chisholm, M. H. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl. 1991, 30, 673. (12) Bunz, U. H. F. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl. 1996, 35, 969. (13) Manna, J.; John, K. D.; Hopkins, M. D. AdV. Organomet. Chem. 1995, 38, 79. (14) Long, N. J.; Williams, C. K. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2003, 42, 2586. 13354

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electronic couplings across polyyn-diyl bridges judged from voltammetric data include CpRe(P)(NO) (P denotes monodentate phosphines),15-17 CpFe(P)2 and CpFe(PsP) (PsP denotes bidentate phosphines),18,19 CpRu(P)2,20,21 CpRu(PsP),22 and MnI(PsP)2 and CpMn(PsP).23,24 Emissive dimetallic compounds bridged by polyyn-diyl, so-called “molecular photonic wires”, are also known with metal centers such as Re(I), Pt(II), and Au(I).25-27 Further illustrating the promise of metal-alkynyl species as molecular wires, several trans-PtP2(CtCPh)2 type compounds were found to be more conductive than the oligo(phenyleneethynes) of comparable length.28 Our interests in this area focus on diruthenium-alkynyl compounds,29,30 and recent (15) Batrik, T.; Bartik, B.; Brady, M.; Dembinski, R.; Gladysz, J. A. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl. 1996, 35, 414. (16) Brady, M.; Weng, W.; Zou, Y.; Seyler, J. W.; Amoroso, A. J.; Arif, A. M.; Bohme, M.; Frenking, G.; Gladysz, J. A. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1997, 119, 775. (17) Dembinski, R.; Bartik, T.; Bartik, B.; Jaeger, M.; Gladysz, J. A. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2000, 122, 810. (18) Coat, F.; Lapinte, C. Organometallics 1996, 15, 477. (19) Coat, F.; Paul, F.; Lapinte, C.; Toupet, L.; Costuas, K.; Halet, J.-F. J. Organomet. Chem. 2003, 683, 368. (20) Bruce, M. I.; Low, P. J.; Costuas, K.; Halet, J.-F.; Best, S. P.; Heath, G. A. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2000, 122, 1949. (21) Bruce, M. I.; Costuas, K.; Halet, J.-F.; Hall, B. C.; Low, P. J.; Nicholson, B. K.; Skelton, B. W.; White, A. H. J. Chem. Soc., Dalton Trans. 2002, 383. (22) Gao, L.-B.; Zhang, L.-Y.; Shi, L.-X.; Chen, Z.-N. Organometallics 2005, 24, 1678. (23) Kheradmandan, S.; Heinze, K.; Schmalle, H. W.; Berke, H. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 1999, 38, 2270. (24) Ferna´ndez, F. J.; Venkatesan, K.; Blacque, O.; Alfonso, M.; Schmalle, H. W.; Berke, H. Chem.sEur. J. 2003, 9, 6192. (25) Yam, V. W. W.; Lau, V. C. Y.; Cheung, K. K. Organometallics 1996, 15, 1740. (26) Yam, V. W.-W.; Wong, K. M.-C.; Zhu, N. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2003, 42, 1400. (27) Che, C. M.; Chao, H. Y.; Miskowski, V. M.; Li, Y. Q.; Cheung, K. K. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2001, 123, 4985. (28) Schull, T. L.; Kushmerick, J. G.; Patterson, C. H.; George, C.; Moore, M. H.; Pollack, S. K.; Shashidhar, R. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2003, 125, 3202. 10.1021/ja0534452 CCC: $30.25 © 2005 American Chemical Society

Electronic Couplings between Ferrocenyl Centers

ARTICLES Scheme 2. Compounds 1 (Y ) H) and 2 (Y ) OCH3)

Scheme 1. Ru2-alkynyl oligomers.

significant results include the demonstration of electron mobility across both the polyyn-diyl and E-hex-3-ene-1,5-diyn-diyl linkers between two Ru2 units.31-33 Ultimately, we hope to succeed in the synthesis of monodisperse oligomers of Ru2alkynyl monomers (Scheme 1) and to realize molecular wires of precisely controlled lengths. We have shown in previous studies31,32,34 that the oligomer outlined in Scheme 1 can mediate facile charge transfer across the Ru2 unit and the carbon-rich bridges and therefore possess the desired properties of a molecular wire. Probing the efficiency of charge transfer across a metal unit ({M}) is a key element of purposeful design. One of the commonly invoked techniques is to attach a pair of identical electroactive reporter groups (X) at the opposite ends of {M} and use both the free energy of comproportionation (∆Gc ) F∆Ec, and ∆Ec is defined by eqs 1 and 2) and spectroscopic characteristics of the mixed-valence ion [X-{M}-X](1 to gauge the hole (oxidation) or electron (reduction) mobility across {M}:35 -e-

-e-

+e-

+e-

X-{M}-X y\ z [X-{M}-X]+ y\ z [X-{M}-X]2+ E1/2(I) E1/2(II) (1a) X-{M}-X y\ z [X-{M}-X]- y\ z [X-{M}-X]2E1/2(I) E1/2(II) (1b) ∆Ec ) |[E1/2(II) - E1/2(I)]|

(2)

Ferrocenes and other metallocenes are among the most popular choices of reporter groups, and their applications have been reviewed.35,36 The ferrocenylethynyl group (FcCtC) is particularly attractive in assessing charge mobility between metal centers because of the σ- and π-bonding capacity of ethynyl to a bridging transition metal. The first example of ferrocenylethynyl as the probe appears to be the study of transPt(PR3)2(CtCFc)2 by Osella,37,38 where a ∆Ec of 80 mV was estimated from cyclic voltammetry (CV). Reported concurrently by groups of Long39 and Wolf,40,41 trans-Ru(dppm)2(CtCFc)2 was shown to have a ∆Ec of 220 mV and its mixed valent cation, [trans-Ru(dppm)2(CtCFc)2]+, was assigned as a Robin-Day class II species based on its spectral signatures. Yip et al. reported ∆Ec values of 110 and 270 mV for [Cu3(dppm)3(µ3-η1-CtCFc)2]+ and trans-Pt2(dppm)2(CtCFc)2, (29) (30) (31) (32) (33) (34) (35) (36) (37) (38) (39) (40) (41)

Ren, T.; Xu, G.-L. Comm. Inorg. Chem. 2002, 23, 355. Hurst, S. K.; Ren, T. J. Organomet. Chem. 2003, 670, 188. Ren, T.; Zou, G.; Alvarez, J. Chem. Commun. 2000, 1197. Xu, G.-L.; Zou, G.; Ni, Y.-H.; DeRosa, M. C.; Crutchley, R. J.; Ren, T. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2003, 125, 10057. Shi, Y.; Yee, G. T.; Wang, G.; Ren, T. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004, 126, 10552. Xu, G.-L.; DeRosa, M. C.; Crutchley, R. J.; Ren, T. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004, 126, 3728. Barlow, S.; O’Hare, D. Chem. ReV. 1997, 97, 637. Zanello, P. In Ferrocenes: Homogeneous Catalysis, Organic Synthesis, Materials Science; Togni, A., Hayashi, T., Eds.; VCH: New York, 1995. Osella, D.; Gambino, O.; Nervi, C.; Ravera, M.; Russo, M. V.; Infante, G. Inorg. Chim. Acta 1994, 225, 35. Osella, D.; Gobetto, R.; Nervi, C.; Ravera, M.; D’Amato, R.; Russo, M. V. Inorg. Chem. Commun. 1998, 1, 239. Colbert, M. C. B.; Lewis, J.; Long, N. J.; Raithby, P. R.; White, A. J. P.; Williams, D. J. J. Chem. Soc., Dalton Trans. 1997, 99. Jones, N. D.; Wolf, M. O.; Giaquinta, D. M. Organometallics 1997, 16, 1352. Zhu, Y.; Clot, O.; Wolf, M. O.; Yap, G. P. A. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1998, 120, 1812.

respectively, and the class II assignment for the mixed valent species in both cases.42,43 Adams et al. also documented modest electronic couplings between two Fc units in various Os-carbonyl clusters bearing π-bonded Fc(CtC)nFc ligand.44-46 Similar electronic coupling in Ru-carbonyl clusters was observed by Bruce et al.47 Very recently, Cotton et al. reported a novel linear trimetallic species, trans-Co3(dpa)4(CtCFc)2, for which a ∆Ec of 70 mV was indirectly estimated from CV data.48 It is also worth noting that many compounds containing two σ-FcCtC ligands have been reported for which either electrochemistry was not interrogated or no discernible ∆Ec was observed.49-60 In the preceding communication, we established through both voltammetric and spectroelectrochemical measurements that two Fc moieties are strongly coupled in the trans-Ru2(Y-DMBA)4(C2Fc)2 type compounds (Y-DMBA are m-substituted dimethylbenzamidinates, 1a/2a in Scheme 2).34 Described in this contribution are, in addition to the details about compounds 1a/2a, the syntheses and structural characterizations of both the symmetric bis-ferrocenylbutadiynyl (FcC4, 1c/2c in Scheme 2) and unsymmetric FcC2/FcC4 adducts (1b/2b) of the Ru2(YDMBA)4 core, the detailed voltammetric and spectroelectrochemical investigation of charge transport properties within these compounds, and a time-dependent density functional (TD-DFT) calculation of the model compound trans-Ru2(NHCHNH)4(CtCFc)2 (3) that provides insights on spectral assignment for compounds 1 and 2. (42) Yip, J. H. K.; Wu, J.; Wong, K.-Y.; Yeung, K.-W.; Vittal, J. J. Organometallics 2002, 21, 1612. (43) Yip, J. H. K.; Wu, J.; Wong, K.-Y.; Ho, K. P.; Pun, C. S.-N.; Vittal, J. J. Organometallics 2002, 21, 5292. (44) Adams, R. D.; Qu, B. Organometallics 2000, 19, 2411. (45) Adams, R. D.; Qu, B.; Smith, M. D. J. Organomet. Chem. 2001, 637639, 514. (46) Adams, R. D.; Qu, B.; Smith, M. D.; Albright, T. A. Organometallics 2002, 21, 2970. (47) Bruce, M. I.; Skelton, B. W.; White, A. H.; Zaitseva, N. N. J. Organomet. Chem. 2002, 650, 188. (48) Berry, J. F.; Cotton, F. A.; Murillo, C. A. Organometallics 2004, 23, 2503. (49) Onitsuka, K.; Tao, X. Q.; Sonogashira, K. Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn. 1994, 67, 2611. (50) Back, S.; Rheinwald, G.; Zsolnai, L.; Huttner, G.; Lang, H. J. Organomet. Chem. 1998, 563, 73. (51) Back, S.; Pritzkow, H.; Lang, H. Organometallics 1998, 17, 41. (52) Back, S.; Rheinwald, G.; Lang, H. Organometallics 1999, 18, 4119. (53) Belen’kaya, A. G.; Dolgushin, F. M.; Peterleitner, M. G.; Petrovskii, P. V.; Krivykh, V. V. Russ. Chem. Bull. 2002, 51, 170. (54) Back, S.; Rheinwald, G.; Lang, H. J. Organomet. Chem. 2000, 601, 93. (55) Lang, H.; Mansilla, N.; Rheinwald, G. Organometallics 2001, 20, 1592. (56) Herberhold, M.; Schmalz, T.; Milius, W.; Wrackmeyer, B. J. Organomet. Chem. 2002, 641, 173. (57) Bruce, M. I.; Zaitseva, N. N.; Skelton, B. W.; Somers, N.; White, A. H. Aust. J. Chem. 2003, 56, 509. (58) Wei, Q.-H.; Zhang, L.-Y.; Shi, L.-X.; Chen, Z.-N. Inorg. Chem. Commun. 2004, 7, 286. (59) Yip, J. H. K.; Wu, J.; Wong, K.-Y.; Ho, K. P.; Koh, L. L.; Vittal, J. J. Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2004, 1056. (60) Zhu, Y. B.; Wolf, M. O. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2000, 122, 10121. J. AM. CHEM. SOC.

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ARTICLES Scheme 3. Synthetic route to the Fc-capped unsymmetric compounds

Results and Discussion

Synthesis. Similar to the synthesis of Ru2(DMBA)4(C2R)2 type compounds previously described,61,62 reactions between Ru2(Y-DMBA)4Cl2 and 5 equiv of LiC2Fc or LiC4Fc afforded symmetric compounds Ru2(Y-DMBA)4(C2Fc)2 (1a/2a) or Ru2(YDMBA)4(C4Fc)2 (1c/2c), respectively, in excellent yields. As shown in Scheme 3, the synthesis of the unsymmetric compounds 1b/2b was effected with a reaction between Ru2(YDMBA)4Cl2 and a mixture of LiC2Fc and LiC4Fc and subsequent chromatographic purification to separate the symmetric compounds 1a/2a (trace) and 1c/2c (minor) from the desired products (1b/2b). Similarly, the reaction between Ru2(mMeODMBA)4Cl2 and a mixture of LiC2Fc and LiC2SiiPr3 and the ensuing chromatographic purification resulted in the monoFc compound Ru2(m-MeODMBA)4(C2SiiPr3)(C2Fc) (2d). Compounds 1 and 2 are all red crystalline, diamagnetic materials that display well resolved 1H NMR spectra. The formation of unsymmetric compounds 1b/2b was verified by the existence of two sets of Fc protons in their 1H NMR spectra. Molecular Structures. Although the presence of the m-MeO phenyl substituent greatly enhances the solubility of compounds 2a-2d in organic solvents, it makes the growth of single crystals of X-ray quality very difficult. On the other hand, the less soluble compounds 1a-1c crystallized readily and their crystal structures were determined via single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The structural plots of compounds 1a-1c are shown in Figures 1-3, respectively, while the selected bond lengths and angles

of strong RusC bonds implies the polarization of the dσ orbital on Ru centers toward the carbon center, which results in the loss of σ(RusRu) and the elongation of the RusRu bond (2.4386(9)-2.4544(9) Å in 1a-1c) compared with that of the parent compound Ru2(DMBA)4Cl2 (2.3224 Å).61 The comparison of structural plots and tabulated data for compounds 1b

Figure 2. ORTEP plot of 1b at 30% probability level. Hydrogen atoms were omitted for clarity.

and 1c with those of 1a revealed that the successive extensions of the conjugated backbone by one acetylene unit at a time has a minimal effect on both the RusRu bond lengths and the coordination environment around the Ru2 core.

Figure 3. ORTEP plot of 1c at 30% probability level. Both hydrogen atoms and the less populated orientation of the disordered Fc unit were omitted for clarity. Figure 1. ORTEP plot of 1a at 30% probability level. Hydrogen atoms were omitted for clarity.

are listed in Table 1. The structure of 1a displays basic features expected for Ru2(DMBA)4-based bis-alkynyl compounds: two FcCtC ligands occupy the opposite axial positions with the formation of strong σ(RusC) bonds (ca.1.98 Å). The formation (61) Xu, G.-L.; Campana, C.; Ren, T. Inorg. Chem. 2002, 41, 3521. (62) Hurst, S. K.; Xu, G.-L.; Ren, T. Organometallics 2003, 22, 4118. 13356 J. AM. CHEM. SOC.

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Inspection of structural data for 1a and 1b revealed both a large variation in Ru-N bond lengths and a significant deviation from linearity in Ru′-Ru-C angles. These distortions from an idealized D4h geometry have been attributed to a second-order Jahn-Teller effect and documented in many bis-alkynyl compounds of a Ru2(III,III) core.61-64 Interestingly, compound 1c (63) Lin, C.; Ren, T.; Valente, E. J.; Zubkowski, J. D. J. Chem. Soc., Dalton Trans. 1998, 571. (64) Xu, G.-L.; Jablonski, C. G.; Ren, T. J. Organomet. Chem. 2003, 683, 388.

Electronic Couplings between Ferrocenyl Centers

ARTICLES

Table 1. Selected Bond Lengths (Å) and Angles (deg) for Molecules 1a-1c 1a

Ru1-Ru2 Ru1-N1 Ru1-N3 Ru1-N5 Ru1-N7 Ru2-N2 Ru2-N4 Ru2-N6 Ru2-N8 Ru1-C1 Ru2-C3 C1-C2 C3-C4 Fe1‚‚‚Fe2 Cω‚‚‚Cω′a C1-Ru1-Ru2 Ru1-Ru2-C3 N1-Ru1-Ru2 N3-Ru1-Ru2 N5-Ru1-Ru2 N7-Ru1-Ru2 N2-Ru2-Ru1 N4-Ru2-Ru1 N6-Ru2-Ru1 N8-Ru2-Ru1 N1-Ru1-Ru2-N2 N3-Ru1-Ru2-N4 N5-Ru1-Ru2-N6 N7-Ru1-Ru2-N8 Fe1-C51‚‚‚C61-Fe2 a

1b

2.4386(9) 2.034(7) 2.107(7) 2.035(6) 1.986(6) 2.007(6) 2.001(7) 2.050(7) 2.118(6) 1.981(8) 1.977(9) 1.193(11) 1.197(12) 14.21 11.58 169.9(3) 168.4(3) 86.17(18) 81.23(18) 86.74(18) 92.73(18) 87.50(18) 92.16(19) 86.10(19) 80.01(17) 19.2(3) 19.7(3) 19.8(3) 21.1(3) 161.9

Ru1-Ru2 Ru1-N1 Ru1-N3 Ru1-N5 Ru1-N7 Ru2-N2 Ru2-N4 Ru2-N6 Ru2-N8 Ru1-C1 Ru2-C13 C1-C2 C13-C14 Fe1‚‚‚Fe2 Cω‚‚‚Cω′a C1-Ru1-Ru2 Ru1-Ru2-C13 N1-Ru1-Ru2 N3-Ru1-Ru2 N5-Ru1-Ru2 N7-Ru1-Ru2 N2-Ru2-Ru1 N4-Ru2-Ru1 N6-Ru2-Ru1 N8-Ru2-Ru1 N1-Ru1-Ru2-N2 N3-Ru1-Ru2-N4 N5-Ru1-Ru2-N6 N7-Ru1-Ru2-N8 Fe1-C3‚‚‚C17-Fe2

1c

2.4538(7) 1.988(5) 2.002(5) 2.119(5) 2.070(7) 2.102(5) 2.067(5) 1.980(5) 2.008(5) 1.977(6) 1.977(6) 1.206(8) 1.194(8) 16.58 13.84 163.4(2) 169.3(2) 92.80(13) 89.67(13) 79.27(13) 83.46(13) 80.26(13) 83.99(13) 93.40(14) 89.34(13) 20.6(2) 19.1(2) 21.1(2) 20.5(2) 103.6

Ru1-Ru2 Ru1-N1 Ru1-N3 Ru1-N5 Ru1-N7 Ru2-N2 Ru2-N4 Ru2-N6 Ru2-N8 Ru1-C1 Ru2-C15A/B C1-C2 C15A-C16A Fe1‚‚‚Fe2A/Bb Cω‚‚‚Cω′(A/B)a,b C1-Ru1-Ru2 Ru1-Ru2-C15A N1-Ru1-Ru2 N3-Ru1-Ru2 N5-Ru1-Ru2 N7-Ru1-Ru2 N2-Ru2-Ru1 N4-Ru2-Ru1 N6-Ru2-Ru1 N8-Ru2-Ru1 N1-Ru1-Ru2-N2 N3-Ru1-Ru2-N4 N7-Ru1-Ru2-N8 N5-Ru1-Ru2-N6 Fe1-C5‚‚‚C19A/B-Fe2A/B

2.4472(5) 2.034(4) 2.055(4) 2.054(4) 2.058(4) 2.038(4) 2.066(5) 2.036(4) 2.039(5) 1.977(3) 1.945(5)/1.995(4) 1.201(1) 1.203(2) 19.44/19.61 16.58/16.67 178.1(2) 172.2(5) 86.94(11) 87.25(12) 85.81(11) 85.32(11) 85.94(11) 85.16(12) 87.18(11) 87.42(11) 20.0(2) 21.1(2) 19.2(2) 20.7(2) 166.3/107.3

Cω and Cω denote the Cp carbon atoms covalently bonded to the CtC unit. b A/B denotes two different orientations

has a much narrower range in Ru-N bond lengths and almost linear Ru′-Ru-C angles despite the disorder of one Fc unit (see the description of the disorder in Experimental Section). All three compounds exhibit large N′-Ru′-Ru-N twisting angles (ca. 20°), which are due to the crowding within each DMBA bridge. The relative orientation between two Fc moieties (defined by the Fe-Cω‚‚‚Cω′-Fe′ twisted angle with Cω and Cω′ as the Fc carbon centers bonded to the acetylene unit) is also interesting: they are almost trans to each other in 1a (162°), close to orthogonal in 1b (104°); and both nearly trans (166°) and orthogonal (107°) conformers are present due to the disorder of one of the Fc units (Fe2) in 1c. The large variation in the relative orientation indicates that the observed Fe-Cω‚‚‚Cω′-Fe′ angles are determined by subtle crystal packing forces, and the free rotation of the FcC2n moiety around the Ru-Ru axis in solution renders this parameter less relevant to Fc‚‚‚Fc charge transfer. Both the edge-edge distance between two Fc centers (Cω‚‚‚Cω′) and Fe‚‚‚Fe′ distances calculated from structural data are 11.6 and 14.2, 13.8 and 16.6, and 16.6 and 19.5 Å for compounds 1a, 1b, and 1c, respectively. Voltammetric Properties of Compounds 1 and 2. Both the differential pulse voltammograms (DPV) and cyclic voltammograms (CV) of compounds 2a-2d recorded in THF are shown in Figure 4, while those of compounds 1a-1c are provided in the Supporting Information. Compounds 1a/2a exhibit four one-electron redox couples in the potential window of -1.5 V to +1.5 V (versus Ag/AgCl): (i) a reduction (A) at ∼ -1.2 V attributed to the Ru2(6+/5+) couple based on the comparison with the previous study of bis(alkynyl) adducts;61,62,64 and (ii) three oxidations (B-D) between 0.4 and 1.0 V. As elucidated in the preliminary communication34 and discussed in detail below, the least positive couple (B) is assigned as the Ru2(7+/6+) couple and the next two (C and

Figure 4. Differential pulse voltammograms (DPV, thick lines) and cyclic voltammograms (CV, thin gray lines) of compounds 2a-2d recorded in 0.20 M THF solution of Bu4NPF6.

D) are designated as the Fc(+1/0) couples. These assignments are also illustrated in eq 3 below. The unsymmetric FcC4/FcC2 compound (2b) exhibits a pattern in voltammograms very J. AM. CHEM. SOC.

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ARTICLES Table 2. Electrode Potentials (V) of 1a-c and 2a-d from DPV Measurements Ru26+/5+ (A)

-1.136 -1.032 -0.932 -1.072 -1.024 -0.924 -1.144

1a 1b 1c 2a 2b 2c 2d a

[Fc−Fc]+1/0 (C)

Ru27+/6+ (B)

[Fc−Fc]+2/+1 (D)

0.324 0.476 0.772 0.400 0.609 0.816 0.596 (2 e-) 0.864 0.384 0.540 0.852 0.452 0.660 0.876 0.628(2 e-) 0.900 0.408 0.748 (1-e-)

E(D) − E(C)

0.296 0.207 0.268* 0.312 0.216 0.272a NA

Calculated from the difference between E(D) and E(B and C).

similar to that of 2a but with all couples positively shifted, reflecting the addition of an acetylenic unit that is strongly electron-withdrawing. For the symmetric bis-FcC4 compound (2c), both the A and D couples exhibit a small but notable positive shift from that of 2b as expected. On the other hand, the positive shift of the Ru2(7+/6+) couple in 2c is so drastic that it significantly overlaps with the first Fc(+1/0) couple (C) to yield an apparent 2-e- wave. The “accidental degeneracy” of B and C couples was also observed for compound 1c. For the mono-Fc compound 2d, the potentials of couples A and B are very close to those of corresponding couples in 2a, while the potential of couple C is approximately the average of those of C and D couples in 2a. Gathered in Table 2 are both the potential data of all compounds (1a-c and 2a-d) from DPV measurements and the calculated potential difference between C and D couples (∆ED-C) as defined in eq 2. -e-

-e-

[Fc-Ru2III,II-Fc]1- y\ z Fc-Ru2III,III-Fc y\ z A B [Fc-Ru2III,IV-Fc]+ -e-

-e-

y\ z [Fc-Ru2III,IV-Fc+]2+ y\ z [Fc+-Ru2III,IV-Fc+]3+ (3) C D

Figure 5. Vis-NIR absorption spectra of compounds 2a-2d recorded in THF.

Electronic Spectroscopy and Structures. As shown in Figure 5 for compounds 2a-2d, electronic absorption spectra of compounds 1 and 2 consist of two intense peaks at ca. 510 13358 J. AM. CHEM. SOC.

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nm (νmax, 19 600 cm-1) and 910 nm (νmax, 11 000 cm-1), which are similar to those observed earlier for other Ru2(DMBA)4(C2Y)2 (Y ) Ar or SiR3) and Ru2(DMBA)4(C4Y)2 type compounds.61,62,64 Ferrocenylethyne moieties are known to absorb weakly in the visible region ((448 nm) ) 300),65,66 but these transitions are masked by the intense peak around 510 nm in compounds 2. The phenomenological assignments of optical transitions in diruthenium species are often impossible to make due to the pseudo-degeneracy of π*(Ru2) and δ*(Ru2) orbitals.67 The presence of two ferrocenyl groups further compounded the issue. Scheme 4. Model Compound 3a

a Hydrogen atoms (open ends) omitted for the sake of clarity; Some optimized bond lengths are marked in Å.

To facilitate a reliable spectral assignment, density-functional calculations at the B3LYP/LanL2DZ level were performed on the model compound 3 shown in Scheme 4. The computation was simplified by the replacement of Y-DMBA ligands with HNC(H)NH-1, which is a reasonable approximation since the phenyl ring is always orthogonal to the amidinate plane (N-C-N), and previous studies revealed the absence of significant electronic effect due to the phenyl ring.62 The key optimized bond lengths are marked in Scheme 4, and the details about the optimized structure are provided in the Supporting Information. Most of the optimized bond lengths around Ru2 agree well with those determined from X-ray studies with the exception of the Ru-Ru bond length that is about 0.15 Å longer than the experimental values. Two factors may contribute to this discrepancy: (i) the DFT (B3LYP) method employed to optimize the ground-state structure of 3 usually underestimates the weak metal-metal interaction, thus leading to the longer metal-metal bond length;68,69 (ii) hydrogen atoms were used in model compound 3 to replace both the N-methyl and C-aryl groups in compounds 1 and 2, which, especially those on the nitrogen centers, tend to enhance metal-metal interaction.70 The frontier orbitals and nearby MOs from the DFT calculations in ascending order of orbital energy are as follows: 76au (π(Ru2) + π(CtC)); 77ag (π*(Ru2) + π(CtC)); 77au, 78ag, (65) Yuan, Z.; Stringer, G.; Jobe, I. R.; Kreller, D.; Scott, K.; Koch, L.; Taylor, N. J.; Marder, T. B. J. Organomet. Chem. 1993, 452, 115. (66) Ferrocenes: Homogeneous Catalysis, Organic Synthesis, Materials Science; Togni, A.; Hayashi, T., Eds.; VCH Publishers: New York, 1995. (67) Miskowski, V. M.; Hopkins, M. D.; Winkler, J. R.; Gray, H. B. In Inorganic Electronic Structure and Spectroscopy; Solomon, E. I., Lever, A. B. P., Eds.; Wiley: New York, 1999; Vol. 2. (68) Novozhilova, I. V.; Volkov, A. V.; Coppens, P. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2003, 125, 1079. (69) Stoyanov, S. R.; Villegas, J. M.; Rillema, D. P. J. Phys. Chem. B 2004, 108, 12175. (70) Pan, O. J.; Zhang, H. X. Inorg. Chem. 2004, 43, 593.

Electronic Couplings between Ferrocenyl Centers

79ag, and 78au (π(FesC)); 79au (π(FesC)); 80ag (π*(Ru2), HOMO); 80au (δ*(Ru2), LUMO); 81ag (σ*(RusC), LUMO+1). The calculated HOMO-LUMO gap is 1.84 eV. Although the low symmetry of 3 (Ci) results in an extensive mixing among valence orbitals that prevents “classical” assignment of MOs to a single atomic center or a molecular fragment, some salient features can be observed. First, the order of the aforementioned MOs reaffirms the previous designation of a π4δ2π*4 configuration for bisalkynyl compounds of a Ru2(III,III) core, and the large HOMO-LUMO gap is consistent with the diamagnetism observed.29 Second, four Fc-based MOs lie immediately below the HOMO (π*(Ru2)), verifying the order of sequential oneelectron oxidations concluded in the previous communication.34 Third, the LUMO+1 is predominantly σ*(RusC), which explains the irreversibility of the second reduction observed for all Ru2(III,III)-bisalkynyl compounds:61,71 the second reduction populates the RusC antibonding orbital and results in the cleavage of a RusC bond and disintegration of Ru2(III,III)bisalkynyl species. According to the vertical electron transition mechanism in the absorption process, the optimized ground-state geometry was kept, while the TD-DFT (B3LYP) was performed to calculate excited states relevant to electronic absorptions. With respect to the 1Ag ground state under the Ci point symmetry, the 1A f1A transitions are dipole-allowed. The tables summarizing g u calculated low-lying absorptions and corresponding oscillator strengths of 3 for isolated molecules are provided in the Supporting Information. From the TD-DFT calculations, a 1Au excited state (mainly contributed by 77ag f 80au) gives rise to an absorption at 840 nm, which, as illustrated by the electron density diagrams in Figure 6a, is best ascribed to the π*[dyz(Ru2)] f δ*[dxy(Ru2)] transition. The blue-shift of the calculated λmax from the experimental value (ca. 910 nm) is attributed to the gas phase calculation, and the correction of solvent effect would significantly red-shift the calculated λmax and yield a better match, as previously demonstrated.70,72,73 Consistent with the conclusion of the filled-filled π-interaction being dominant in metal-alkynyl compounds,74 the π*[dyz(Ru2)] (77ag) orbital contains a substantial contribution of π(CtC), which renders a partial LMCT character to the transition observed at ca. 910 nm. Although there are many dipole-allowed transitions of energy close to that of intense absorption at ca. 510 nm, the absorption calculated at 409 nm (shown in Figure 6b) from the L(N)fd*(Ru2), δ(Ru2)fd*(Ru2), and π(Ru2) + π(CtC)fs*(Ru-C) mixed transitions is the best candidate on the basis of its oscillator strength (0.1895). Spectroelectrochemistry. The spectroelectrochemistry of compound 2a was reported previously.34 Spectroelectrochemistry was performed on compounds 2d, 2c, and 2b in 0.20 M Bu4NPF6 THF solution, and the spectra of the oxidation products are shown in Figures 7, 8, and 9, respectively. Spectroelectrochemistry to form a given oxidation product yielded absorption spectra with clean isosbestic points, although the reversibility was not ideal. For compounds 2d and 2c only partial reversibility (ca. 78% recovery) from the fully oxidized form 23+ to the reduced form 2 was observed. For 2b, while good reversibility (71) (72) (73) (74)

Ren, T. Organometallics 2002, 21, 732. Pan, Q.-J.; Zhang, H.-X. Organometallics 2004, 23, 5198. Pan, Q. J.; Zhang, H. X. Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2003, 4202. Lichtenberger, D. L.; Renshaw, S. K.; Wong, A.; Tagge, C. D. Organometallics 1993, 12, 3522.

ARTICLES

Figure 6. (a) The single electron transitions with |CI coefficient| > 0.1 in the TD-DFT calculations for the 840 nm absorption of compound 3. (b) The single electron transitions with |CI coefficient| > 0.1 in the TD-DFT calculations for the 409 nm absorption of compound 3 in the gas phase; CI coefficients are placed above the respective arrows.

was observed for the first two oxidations, the third oxidation resulted in complete decomposition of the complex ion. In Figure 7, the oxidation of 2d to 2d+ results in a slight energy shift and broadening of bands at 20 200 and 11 390 cm-1 and the appearance of new NIR bands centered at approximately 4000 and 5300 cm-1. Further oxidation to 2d2+ causes these NIR bands to disappear, and so we assign these NIR bands to intervalence transitions of Fc to Ru2+7. J. AM. CHEM. SOC.

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Figure 7. Vis-NIR spectrum of of trans-(FcC2)Ru2(m-MeODMBA)4(C2SiiPr3) (2d) and those of spectroelectrochemcally generated 2d+ and 2d2+ in 0.20 M (n-Bu)4NPF6 THF solution.

Figure 9. Vis-NIR spectrum of trans-Ru2(m-MeODMBA)4(C2Fc)(C4Fc) (2b) and those of spectroelectrochemcally generated 2b+, 2b2+, and 2b3+ in 0.20 M (n-Bu)4NPF6 THF solution. Table 3. Spectral Data for Deconvoluted Gaussian Intervalence Bandsa of Oxidized 2a-d band I (Fc to Ru27+) νmax (∆ν1/2, )

compd

2a+ 2a2+ 2b+ b 2b2+ 2c+b 2c2+ 2d+

b

Figure 8. Vis-NIR spectrum of trans-Ru2(m-MeODMBA)4(C4Fc)2 (2c) and those of spectroelectrochemcally generated 2c+, 2c2+, and 2c3+ in 0.20 M (n-Bu)4NPF6 THF solution.

2c+,

2c2+,

2c3+.

Figure 8 shows the spectra of 2c, and Because of the overlap of the redox couples to form 2c+ and 2c2+ (B + C in Figure 4), the spectrum labeled 2c+ is the result of an equilibrium mixture of 2c+ and 2c2+. Nevertheless, it is possible to say that the formation of 2c+ (Fc-Ru7+-Fc) does result in a low energy NIR band at ca. 4000 cm-1 and that, with the formation of 2c2+ (Fc-Ru27+-Fc+), an additional NIR band grows in at ca. 6250 cm-1. Oxidation to 2c3+ resulted in the loss of these NIR bands, and so these bands are assigned to the two possible intervalence transitions, Fc to Ru27+ (4000 cm-1) and Fc to Fc+ (6250 cm-1). Figure 9 shows the spectral transformation of 2b to 2b+ and 2b+ to 2b2+, respectively, while the spectrum of 2b3+ could not be obtained due to its instability. The NIR bands of 2b+ (Fca-Ru27+-Fcb) closely resemble those of 2d+ in Figure 7 and are assigned to intervalence transitions between Fc and Ru27+. The band at 5900 cm-1 for 2b2+ (Fca-Ru27+-Fcb+) is assigned to a Fc to Fc+ transition, while the band at 4200 cm-1 is a Fc to Ru27+ IVCT transition. 13360 J. AM. CHEM. SOC.

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