Transition metal complexes bearing functional P,N-type ligands attract much attention because they combine hard nitrogen donor(s) and soft phosphorus donor(s) and offer considerable chemical and structural diversity. In this HOT Article, Braunstein et al. report several palladium/cobalt and nickel complexes with phosphino-oxazoline ligands. Some of the nickel complexes were further checked for their ethylene reactivity, and showed activity for ethylene non-selective oligomerization. Interestingly, a reversible interconversion transform phenomena was observed between a couple of the isomeric Ni-complexes with variation of the solvent between CH2Cl2 and CHCl3.
The role of functional bidentate ligands in catalysis provides a versatile tool for fine tuning the performance of catalysts (Lewis base – Lewis acid interactions).
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A phosphino-oxazoline ligand as a P,N-bridge in palladium/cobalt or P,N-chelate in nickel complexes: catalytic ethylene oligomerization
Shuanming Zhang, Roberto Pattacini, Suyun Jie and Pierre Braunstein
Dalton Trans., 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1DT11352F