Monomeric ferrocene bis-imidazoline bis-palladacycles: Variation of pd-pd distances by an interplay of metallophilic, dispersive, and coulombic interactions

Monomeric ferrocene bis-imidazoline bis-palladacycles (FBIP) have recently been reported to be efficient bimetallic catalysts in different sorts of asymmetric reactions by the cooperation of two Pd(II) centers. A crucial parameter regarding the efficiency of reactions catalyzed in a bimetallic mode is - in general - the intermetallic distance of both catalytically relevant metal centers. In this article we describe the structural elucidation of the monomeric FBIP catalyst type (usually generated in situ from a catalytically inactive dimeric chloride bridged precatalyst) by X-ray crystal structure analysis. Two dicationic monomeric complexes are compared to a neutral complex. The solid-state structures reveal varying Pd-Pd distances ranging from 3.15 to 5.27 Å for the doubly charged complexes, whereas for the neutral complex a distance of 3.28 Å has been found. This variability is supposed to be one of the key advantages of a ferrocene backbone in a bimetallic catalyst system, since the Fe-Cp bonds allow the bimetallic complex to readily open and close like a pair of scissors, employing just a few degrees of rotational freedom. In addition, on the basis of the nature of the reported catalyst species, we suggest that a permanent switch among neutral and mono- and dicationic catalyst species by a Brønsted acid such as acetic acid might facilitate different elementary steps in a catalytic cycle. By DFT calculations we have found that weak d⁸-d⁸ interactions contribute to short Pd-Pd distances but are less important than dispersive interactions, which can even overcome the Coulombic repulsion of two cationic palladium centers.