Publication by CRMN in the American Chemical Society journal on November 11, 2019.
Abstract A novel heterobimetallic tantalum/iridium hydrido complex, [{Ta(CH2tBu)3}{IrH2(Cp*)}], featuring a very short metal–metal bond, has been isolated through an original alkane elimination route from Ta(CHtBu)(CH2tBu)3 and Cp*IrH4. This molecular precursor has been used to synthesize well-defined silica-supported low-coordinate heterobimetallic hydrido species [≡SiOTa(CH2tBu)2{IrH2(Cp*)}], and [≡SiOTa(CH2tBu)H{IrH2(Cp*)}], using a surface organometallic chemistry (SOMC) approach. The SOMC methodology prevents undesired dimerization as encountered in solution and leading to a tetranuclear species [{Ta(CH2tBu)2}(Cp*IrH)]2. This approach therefore allows access to unique low-coordinate species not attainable in solution. These original supported Ta/Ir species exhibit drastically enhanced catalytic performances in H/D exchange reactions with respect to (i) monometallic analogues as well as (ii) homogeneous systems. In particular, material 6 promotes the H/D exchange between fluorobenzene and C6D6 or D2 as deuterium sources with excellent productivity (TON up to 1422; TOF up to 23.3 h-1) under mild conditions (25 °C, sub-atmospheric D2 pressure) without any additives.
Source: Metal–Metal Synergy in Well-Defined Surface Tantalum–Iridium Heterobimetallic Catalysts for H/D Exchange Reactions. Sébastien Lassalle, Ribal Jabbour, Pauline Schiltz, Pierrick Berruyer, Tanya K. Todorova, Laurent Veyre, David Gajan, Anne Lesage, Chloé Thieuleux, Clément Camp. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 49 (141), 19321-19335.