Iodomethane oxidative addition and CO migratory insertion in monocarbonylphosphine complexes of the type [Rh((C6H5)COCHCO((CH2)nCH3))(CO)(PPh3)]: Steric and electronic effects

The chemical kinetics, studied by UV/Vis, IR and NMR, of the oxidative addition of iodomethane to [Rh((C6H5)COCHCOR)(CO)(PPh3)], with R = (CH2)nCH3, n = 1–3, consists of three consecutive reaction steps that involves isomers of two distinctly different classes of RhIII-alkyl and two distinctly different classes of RhIII-acyl species. Kinetic studies on the first oxidative addition step of [Rh((C6H5)COCHCOR)(CO)(PPh3)] + CH3I to form [Rh((C6H5)COCHCOR)(CH3)(CO)(PPh3)(I)] revealed a second order oxidative addition rate constant approximately 500–600 times faster than that observed for the Monsanto catalyst [Rh(CO)2I2]−. The reaction rate of the first oxidative addition step in chloroform was not influenced by the increasing alkyl chain length of the R group on the β-diketonato ligand: k1 = 0.0333 ([Rh((C6H5)COCHCO(CH2CH3))(CO)(PPh3)]), 0.0437 ([Rh((C6H5)COCHCO(CH2CH2CH3))(CO)(PPh3)]) and 0.0354 dm3 mol−1 s−1 ([Rh((C6H5)COCHCO(CH2CH2CH2CH3))(CO)(PPh3)]). The pKa′ and keto–enol equilibrium constant, Kc, of the β-diketones (C6H5)COCH2COR, along with apparent group electronegativities, χR of the R group of the β-diketones (C6H5)COCH2COR, give a measurement of the electron donating character of the coordinating β-diketonato ligand: (R, pKa′, Kc, χR) = (CH3, 8.70, 12.1, 2.34), (CH2CH3, 9.33, 8.2, 2.31), (CH2CH2CH3, 9.23, 11.5, 2.41) and (CH2CH2CH2CH3, 9.33, 11.6, 2.22).