Cycloaddition and C–H Activation Reactions of a Tantalum Alkylidyne

The alkylidyne complex (C₅Me₅)­Ta­(CPh)­(PMe₃)₂Cl (1) was first reported by Schrock in 1978, but little if any follow-up work on 1 or other group 5 metal alkylidynes has been reported. This work discloses two avenues of reactivity of 1. Treatment of 1 with 3-hexyne resulted in the formation of a tantalacyclobutadiene. Abstraction of chloride from 1 led to a mixture of products that included isomers of [(C₅Me₅)­Ta­(CHPh)­(CH₂PMe₂)­(PMe₃)]⁺ (4), in which a C–H bond of a PMe₃ ligand was added across the TaC bond. The C–H activation was found to be reversible, and the equilibrium mixture functioned as an equivalent of a cationic Ta alkylidyne in reaction with 3-hexyne, producing a cationic tantalacyclobutadiene (6). Compounds 4 and 6 were structurally characterized in the solid state by XRD methods, with 6 being the first structurally characterized metallacyclobutadiene in group 5.