Electrosynthetic Route to Cyclopentadienyl Rhenium Hydride Complexes Enabled by Electrochemical Investigations of their Redox-Induced Formation

Abstract

As the utility of electroanalytical methods to study reaction mechanisms continues to develop, a wider scope of chemical reactions will fall under the scrutiny of electrochemical investigation. We report herein thermochemical and electrosynthetic routes to stable rhenium hydride complexes ReClCp(H)(dppx) (dppx = 1,1-bis(diphenylphosphino)methane (dppm), 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane (dppe), 1,3-bis(diphenylphosphino)propane (dppp), Cp = cyclopentadienyl). These complexes are accessed via reduction of the corresponding ReCl3(dppx)(PPh3) in the presence of cyclopentadiene, which was initially achieved by a traditional chemical route. Complementary chemical and electrochemical methods were u..