Theoretical Investigation of the Low-Energy States of CpMoCl(PMe 3 ) 2 and Their Role in the Spin-Forbidden Addition of N 2 and CO

International audience; A recent computational investigation of Jahn−Teller effects in unsaturated 16-electron d4d6 [CpMLn] complexes (Abu-Hasanayn, F.; Cheong, P.; Oliff, M. Angew. Chem.2002, 41, 2120) highlighted the typical presence of two spin-triplet and two singlet states of competing stability in these complexes and pointed out the necessity to account for more than one electronic state in studies thereof. Consequently, we have reinvestigated the addition of N2 to all the four low-energy states of CpMoCl(PH3)2, a reaction for which previously only one singlet and one triplet state have been considered (Keogh, D. W.; Poli, R. J. Am. Chem. Soc.1997, 119, 2516). The present study was pe…