0000000001118617
AUTHOR
Christopher Roberts
Comment on "Crystallographic Snapshot of an Arrested Intermediate in the Biomimetic Activation of CO2"
Out of focus: A recent Communication published in this journal describes the synthesis of [nBu4N]HCO3. The authors performed a single-crystal X-ray study that revealed a putative species described as an incipient hydroxide ion engaging in a long, and presumably weak, interaction with CO2. Our recent exploration of the coordination chemistry of CO2 with small ions leads us to believe that such an exceptional bonding situation is unlikely. Instead, we argue that the crystal structure is that of [nBu4N]O2CCH3 and therefore not representative of the bulk powder from the synthesis. peerReviewed
Reactions of Terphenyl-Substituted Digallene AriPr4GaGaAriPr4 (AriPr4 = C6H3-2,6-(C6H3-2,6-iPr2)2) with Transition Metal Carbonyls and Theoretical Investigation of the Mechanism of Addition
The neutral digallene AriPr4GaGaAriPr4 (AriPr4 = C6H3-2,6-(C6H3-2,6-iPr2)2) was shown to react at ca. 25 °C in pentane solution with group 6 transition metal carbonyl complexes M(CO)6 (M = Cr, Mo, W) under UV irradiation to afford compounds of the general formula trans-[M(GaAriPr4)2(CO)4] in modest yields. The bis(gallanediyl) complexes were characterized spectroscopically and by X-ray crystallography, which demonstrated that they were isostructural. In each complex, the gallium atom is two-coordinate with essentially linear geometry, which is relatively rare for gallanediyl-substituted transition metal species. The experimental data show that the gallanediyl ligand :GaAriPr4 behaves as a g…