Synthesis of chromium(III) bis(benzamidinate) complexes via single electron oxidation

Single-electron oxidation of the known Cr(II) bis(amidinate) Cr[(Me3SiN)2CPh]2 (1) provides synthetic access to neutral Cr(III) complexes. The complexes Cr[(Me3SiN)2CPh]2X were prepared by reaction of 1 with AgO2CPh (X = O2CPh, 2), of 1 with iodine in THF (X = I/THF, 3), or of 1 with iodine in pentane, followed by addition of 2-adamantanone (X = I/2-adamantanone, 4). Treatment of 2 or 3 with C3H5MgCl resulted in the thermally stable allyl complex (X = η3-C3H5, 5). A preliminary kinetics study of the reaction of 1 with excess allyl benzoate and allyl acetate was performed. The molecular structures of 2, 3 and 5 were confirmed by single crystal X-ray diffraction.