{"id":10448,"date":"2013-05-13T20:08:14","date_gmt":"2013-05-13T19:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ch.imperial.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=10448"},"modified":"2014-01-17T07:45:18","modified_gmt":"2014-01-17T07:45:18","slug":"the-%cf%80-complex-theory-of-metal-alkene-compounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=10448","title":{"rendered":"The \u03c0-complex theory of metal-alkene compounds."},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"kcite-section\" kcite-section-id=\"10448\">\n<p>The period 1951&#8211;1954 was a golden one for structural chemistry; <a href=\"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1073\/pnas.37.4.205\" target=\"_blank\">proteins<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1038\/171737a0\" target=\"_blank\">DNA<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ch.imperial.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=3908\" target=\"_blank\">Ferrocene<\/a> (1952) and the one I discuss here, a bonding model for Zeise&#8217;s salt (<strong>3<\/strong>).<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10449\" alt=\"Zeise\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ch.imperial.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Zeise.svg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In\u00a0&#8220;A review of \u03c0 Complex Theory&#8221;,\u00a0 <i>Bull. Soc. Chim. Fr.<\/i>, <b>1951<\/b>, 1 8 , C79 (it is not online) M. J. S.\u00a0Dewar\u00a0sets out his theory of the role of \u03c0-complexes in (mostly) organic chemistry. The paper derives from an international colloquium held in Montpellier, in which audience responses to the presentation are included as an annex to the article itself. It is as a footnoted response (to P. Bartlett) that Dewar presents his theory of the alkene-metal\u00a0\u03c0-complex, of which the best known example is <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Zeise's_salt\" target=\"_blank\">Zeise&#8217;s salt<\/a> (<strong>3<\/strong>).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-10452\" alt=\"Dewar-symmetry\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ch.imperial.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Dewar-symmetry.jpg\" width=\"350\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-10453\" alt=\"Dewar1\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ch.imperial.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Dewar1.jpeg\" width=\"350\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This diagram illustrates the binding of a silver cation Ag<sup>+<\/sup> to ethene (<strong>1<\/strong>). Dewar uses group theory to show how the molecular orbitals from ethene can be combined with the atomic orbitals on the metal. Two filled and two empty orbitals combine to give two new combinations, with a total occupancy of four electrons defining the interaction between alkene and metal. Dewar regards this four-electron-three-centre interaction as distinctive from simply the formation of two single metal-C bonds (a metallacyclopropane).<\/p>\n<p>Zeise&#8217;s salt itself derives from Pt<sup>2+<\/sup> by addition of three chloride anions to give PtCl<sub>3<\/sub><sup>&#8211;<\/sup>. To compare this with Dewar&#8217;s Ag<sup>+<\/sup>\u00a0example, I use here just the naked metal cations <strong>1-2<\/strong>.<sup>\u2021<\/sup> I went about this analysis as follows:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"line-height: 13px;\">I did \u03c9B97XD\/Dev2-SVP calculations, optimising the geometry into\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.webqc.org\/symmetrypointgroup-c2v.html\" target=\"_blank\">C<sub>2v<\/sub> symmetry<\/a>.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>The electronic configuration of Ag<sup>+<\/sup> is [Kr].4d<sup>10<\/sup>.5s<sup>0<\/sup> and Pt<sup>2+<\/sup> is [Xe].4f<sup>14<\/sup>.5d<sup>8<\/sup>.6s<sup>0<\/sup>.<\/li>\n<li>The two metals therefore do differ; Ag<sup>+<\/sup> can only accept electrons into a 5s atomic orbital (AO), whilst the Pt<sup>2+<\/sup> can accept electrons into either the 6s or the empty 5d AO.<\/li>\n<li>The molecular orbitals identified for discussion here at <em>17<\/em>, <em>13<\/em> and <em>11 (<\/em>this is a pseudopotential calculation<em>)<\/em>\u00a0of which <em>17<\/em> is doubly occupied for\u00a0Ag<sup>+<\/sup>\u00a0 and unoccupied for\u00a0Pt<sup>2+<\/sup>. Why three when Dewar&#8217;s analysis above describes only two? All (might) become clear shortly!<\/li>\n<li>Firstly, I start with the &#8220;back-bonding&#8221; orbital as shown on the right in Dewar&#8217;s diagram. This is the interaction of the filled metal d<sub>xz<\/sub>\u00a0orbital with the alkene \u03c0* empty anti-bonding orbital and the combination emerges as orbital <em>13<\/em> of the three considered here. It is <em>antisymmetric<\/em> with respect to rotation about the axis of symmetry and one of the two planes of symmetry, and is given the label (irreducible representation)\u00a0<strong>B<\/strong><sub>1<\/sub>. Map Dewar&#8217;s &#8220;<strong>-&#8220;<\/strong> sign to <span style=\"color: #00ccff;\">blue<\/span> and &#8220;<strong>+&#8221;<\/strong> sign to <span style=\"color: #ff00ff;\">purple<\/span> to match them up. But also notice that the Pt orbital is rather more anti-bonding in the C-C region than Ag analogue. The C-C computed length (1.423\u00c5) is indeed longer than that for the Ag complex (1.363\u00c5, click on the images below to see a rotatable model of these orbitals). You will also notice that this orbital is &#8220;contaminated&#8221; with contributions from the C-H bonds; no longer are the\u00a0\u03c0- and \u03c3- electrons orthogonal as they are in ethene itself. This mixing of components from other parts of the molecules is what makes a clear-cut analysis of such systems trickier than you would infer by looking at Dewar&#8217;s diagram above! This also happens from the ligands on the metal (Cl in Zeise&#8217;s salt for example).<br \/>\n<table class=\"aligncenter\" border=\"1\" align=\"center\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Ag<\/td>\n<td>Pt<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10454\" onclick=\"jmolInitialize('..\/Jmol\/','JmolAppletSigned.jar');jmolSetAppletColor('white');jmolApplet([450,450],'load wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Ag_mo13.cub.xyz;zoom 80;isosurface color purple blue wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Ag_mo13.cub.jvxl translucent;');\" alt=\"Ag-13\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ch.imperial.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Ag-13.jpeg\" width=\"210\" \/><\/td>\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10455\" onclick=\"jmolInitialize('..\/Jmol\/','JmolAppletSigned.jar');jmolSetAppletColor('white');jmolApplet([450,450],'load wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Pt_mo13.cub.xyz;zoom 80;isosurface color purple blue wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Pt_mo13.cub.jvxl translucent;');\" alt=\"Pt-13.\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ch.imperial.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Pt-13..jpeg\" width=\"210\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/li>\n<li>Let us now go hunting from the second of Dewar&#8217;s orbitals, which he describes as the interaction between the filled alkene\u00a0\u03c0-MO and an empty Ag s-AO. Orbital <em>17<\/em> closely resembles Dewar&#8217;s sketch on the left, although additional lobes can be seen. It is symmetric with respect to all three elements of symmetry (axis and two planes) and hence is labelled <strong>A<\/strong><sub>1<\/sub>. Where Dewar writes that the two molecular bonds are distinct, he means that they have different symmetries and hence cannot interact with each other (they are orthogonal). But hang on; although this orbital is doubly occupied for Ag, it is unoccupied for Pt! So does that mean that Dewar&#8217;s argument cannot hold for Zeise&#8217;s salt itself (the bonding in this molecule is often referred to as the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dewar\u2013Chatt\u2013Duncanson_model\" target=\"_blank\">Dewar-Chatt-Duncanson model<\/a><span id=\"cite_ITEM-10448-0\" name=\"citation\"><a href=\"#ITEM-10448-0\">[1]<\/a><\/span>). No. It turns out that for Ag, the alkene\u00a0\u03c0-MO is interacting not with a pure unhybridised\u00a0Ag s-AO, but with an <em>s+d<sub>z<\/sub>2<\/em> hybrid (albeit with rather more s and rather less <em>d<sub>z<\/sub>2). <\/em>This creates\u00a0two modified hybrid AOs, one of which interacts with the alkene\u00a0\u03c0-MO to give orbital <em>17<\/em>.\u00a0This is what those extra lobes are about, the contribution from the 4d<sub>z<\/sub>2 AO on Ag. Because this combination on Pt is empty, the Ag complex has a shorter C-C bond than Pt.<br \/>\n<table class=\"aligncenter\" border=\"1\" align=\"center\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Ag<\/td>\n<td>Pt<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10467\" onclick=\"jmolInitialize('..\/Jmol\/','JmolAppletSigned.jar');jmolSetAppletColor('white');jmolApplet([450,450],'load wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Ag_mo17.cub.xyz;zoom 80;isosurface color blue purple  wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Ag_mo17.cub.jvxl translucent;');\" alt=\"Ag-17\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ch.imperial.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Ag-17.jpeg\" width=\"220\" \/><\/td>\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10466\" onclick=\"jmolInitialize('..\/Jmol\/','JmolAppletSigned.jar');jmolSetAppletColor('white');jmolApplet([450,450],'load wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Pt_mo17.cub.xyz;zoom 80;isosurface color blue purple  wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Pt_mo17.cub.jvxl translucent;');\" alt=\"Pt-17\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ch.imperial.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Pt-17.jpeg\" width=\"220\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/li>\n<li>Well, Pt still needs explaining, since we have only found one of Dewar&#8217;s two interactions. I mentioned that\u00a0<em>s+d<sub>z<\/sub>2<\/em>\u00a0hybrids could be created, and here the second of these interacts with the bonding\u00a0alkene\u00a0\u03c0-MO to give another <strong>A<\/strong><sub>1<\/sub>\u00a0instance \u00a0<em>11, <\/em>again with the same symmetry properties with respect to the three elements of symmetry present (but this time with rather more <em>d<sub>z<\/sub>2 than s). <\/em>It is this orbital which is now occupied for\u00a0Pt.<br \/>\n<table class=\"aligncenter\" border=\"1\" align=\"center\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Ag<\/td>\n<td>Pt<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10474\" onclick=\"jmolInitialize('..\/Jmol\/','JmolAppletSigned.jar');jmolSetAppletColor('white');jmolApplet([450,450],'load wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Ag_mo11.cub.xyz;zoom 80;isosurface color purple blue wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Ag_mo11.cub.jvxl translucent;');\" alt=\"Ag-11\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ch.imperial.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Ag-11.jpeg\" width=\"220\" \/><\/td>\n<td>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10474\" onclick=\"jmolInitialize('..\/Jmol\/','JmolAppletSigned.jar');jmolSetAppletColor('white');jmolApplet([450,450],'load wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Pt_mo11.cub.xyz;zoom 80;isosurface color purple blue wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Pt_mo11.cub.jvxl translucent;');\" alt=\"Ag-11\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ch.imperial.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Ag-11.jpeg\" width=\"220\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The famous Dewar\u00a0\u03c0-complex model of alkene-metal interaction as applied to the Ag<sup>+<\/sup> cation describes one &#8220;normal molecular bond&#8221; and a second bond &#8220;opposite in direction to the first&#8221;, what we now call a back-bond. What has emerged however is that two &#8220;normal molecular bonds&#8221; can be identified for Ag<sup>+<\/sup> based purely on their symmetry\u00a0but only one for Pt<sup>2+<\/sup> (which of course has two valence electrons less) and both exhibit one back-bond. \u00a0The diagram above must absorb a further pair of electrons from a formally non-bonding filled <em>d<sub>z<\/sub>2 <\/em>orbital, whilst recognising that hybridisation may allow it too to take on some bonding role.<\/p>\n<p>You might ask what the missing orbitals<em> 12<\/em>, <em>14-16<\/em> are? \u00a0Well, formally they derive from the other occupied four metal d-orbitals, but in fact mixed heavily with the C-H bonds of the ethene. I have to conclude that a molecular orbital analysis of <em>e.g.<\/em> Zeise&#8217;s salt (with additional orbital mixing from the three chlorides) ends up being pretty complex! But despite this complexity,\u00a0Dewar&#8217;s original hypothesis, produced in response to a question from the audience, certainly started something. It is worth reminding that the 1952 Nobel-prize winning suggestion for the structure of Ferrocene<span id=\"cite_ITEM-10448-1\" name=\"citation\"><a href=\"#ITEM-10448-1\">[2]<\/a><\/span> includes no group theoretical orbital analysis of the bonding on a par with Dewar&#8217;s 1951 insights.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><sup>\u2021<\/sup> In fact, the MOs turn out to be pretty sensitive to the ligands surrounding the metal, and so those presented here for the naked cations will differ from those for &#8220;real molecules&#8221; such as Zeise&#8217;s salt.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>References<\/h2>\n    <ol class=\"kcite-bibliography csl-bib-body\"><li id=\"ITEM-10448-0\">J. Chatt, and L.A. Duncanson, \"586. Olefin co-ordination compounds. Part III. Infra-red spectra and structure: attempted preparation of acetylene complexes\", <i>Journal of the Chemical Society (Resumed)<\/i>, pp. 2939, 1953. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1039\/jr9530002939\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1039\/jr9530002939<\/a>\n\n<\/li>\n<li id=\"ITEM-10448-1\">G. Wilkinson, M. Rosenblum, M.C. Whiting, and R.B. Woodward, \"THE STRUCTURE OF IRON BIS-CYCLOPENTADIENYL\", <i>Journal of the American Chemical Society<\/i>, vol. 74, pp. 2125-2126, 1952. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1021\/ja01128a527\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1021\/ja01128a527<\/a>\n\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n<\/div> <!-- kcite-section 10448 -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The period 1951&#8211;1954 was a golden one for structural chemistry; proteins, DNA, Ferrocene (1952) and the one I discuss here, a bonding model for Zeise&#8217;s salt (3). In\u00a0&#8220;A review of \u03c0 Complex Theory&#8221;,\u00a0 Bull. Soc. Chim. Fr., 1951, 1 8 , C79 (it is not online) M. J. S.\u00a0Dewar\u00a0sets out his theory of the role [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":5,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[1054,1055,1058,1052,1057,2651,157,1053,1056,1059],"ppma_author":[2661],"class_list":["post-10448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interesting-chemistry","tag-alkene-metal-interaction","tag-alkene-metal--complex","tag-cation-ag","tag-dewar","tag-dewars-ag","tag-historical","tag-metal","tag-metal-d-orbitals","tag-naked-metal-cations","tag-zte-c79-cellular-phone"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The \u03c0-complex theory of metal-alkene compounds. - Henry Rzepa&#039;s Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=10448\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The \u03c0-complex theory of metal-alkene compounds. - Henry Rzepa&#039;s Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The period 1951&#8211;1954 was a golden one for structural chemistry; proteins, DNA, Ferrocene (1952) and the one I discuss here, a bonding model for Zeise&#8217;s salt (3). In\u00a0&#8220;A review of \u03c0 Complex Theory&#8221;,\u00a0 Bull. Soc. Chim. Fr., 1951, 1 8 , C79 (it is not online) M. J. S.\u00a0Dewar\u00a0sets out his theory of the role [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=10448\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Henry Rzepa&#039;s Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-05-13T19:08:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-01-17T07:45:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.ch.imperial.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Zeise.svg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Henry Rzepa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Henry Rzepa\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The \u03c0-complex theory of metal-alkene compounds. - Henry Rzepa&#039;s Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=10448","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"The \u03c0-complex theory of metal-alkene compounds. - Henry Rzepa&#039;s Blog","og_description":"The period 1951&#8211;1954 was a golden one for structural chemistry; proteins, DNA, Ferrocene (1952) and the one I discuss here, a bonding model for Zeise&#8217;s salt (3). In\u00a0&#8220;A review of \u03c0 Complex Theory&#8221;,\u00a0 Bull. Soc. Chim. Fr., 1951, 1 8 , C79 (it is not online) M. J. S.\u00a0Dewar\u00a0sets out his theory of the role [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=10448","og_site_name":"Henry Rzepa&#039;s Blog","article_published_time":"2013-05-13T19:08:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-01-17T07:45:18+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.ch.imperial.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Zeise.svg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Henry Rzepa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Henry Rzepa","Estimated reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=10448#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=10448"},"author":{"name":"Henry Rzepa","@id":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2b40f7b9c872a4dc1547e040a11b6281"},"headline":"The \u03c0-complex theory of metal-alkene compounds.","datePublished":"2013-05-13T19:08:14+00:00","dateModified":"2014-01-17T07:45:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=10448"},"wordCount":1105,"commentCount":1,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=10448#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.ch.imperial.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Zeise.svg","keywords":["alkene-metal interaction","alkene-metal \u03c0-complex","cation Ag","Dewar","Dewar's Ag","Historical","metal","metal d-orbitals","naked metal cations","ZTE C79 Cellular Phone"],"articleSection":["Interesting chemistry"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=10448#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=10448","url":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=10448","name":"The \u03c0-complex theory of metal-alkene compounds. - Henry Rzepa&#039;s Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=10448#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=10448#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.ch.imperial.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Zeise.svg","datePublished":"2013-05-13T19:08:14+00:00","dateModified":"2014-01-17T07:45:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2b40f7b9c872a4dc1547e040a11b6281"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=10448#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=10448"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=10448#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.ch.imperial.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Zeise.svg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.ch.imperial.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Zeise.svg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=10448#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The \u03c0-complex theory of metal-alkene compounds."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/","name":"Henry Rzepa&#039;s Blog","description":"Chemistry with a twist","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2b40f7b9c872a4dc1547e040a11b6281","name":"Henry Rzepa","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/897b6740f7f599bca7942cdf7d7914af5988937ae0e3869ab09aebb87f26a731?s=96&d=blank&r=g370be3a7397865e4fd161aefeb0a5a85","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/897b6740f7f599bca7942cdf7d7914af5988937ae0e3869ab09aebb87f26a731?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/897b6740f7f599bca7942cdf7d7914af5988937ae0e3869ab09aebb87f26a731?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Henry Rzepa"},"description":"Henry Rzepa is Emeritus Professor of Computational Chemistry at Imperial College London.","sameAs":["https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8635-8390"],"url":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?author=1"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pDef7-2Iw","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10498,"url":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=10498","url_meta":{"origin":10448,"position":0},"title":"Au and Pt \u03c0-complexes of cyclobutadiene.","author":"Henry Rzepa","date":"May 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"In the preceding post, I introduced Dewar's\u00a0\u03c0-complex theory for alkene-metal compounds, outlining the molecular orbital analysis he presented, in which the filled \u03c0-MO of the alkene donates into a Ag+\u00a0empty metal orbital and back-donation occurs from a filled metal orbital into the alkene \u03c0* MO. Here I play a little\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hypervalency&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hypervalency","link":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pt-cbd","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ch.imperial.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Pt-cbd.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":16518,"url":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=16518","url_meta":{"origin":10448,"position":1},"title":"A wider look at \u03c0-complex metal-alkene (and alkyne) compounds.","author":"Henry Rzepa","date":"June 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Previously, I looked at the historic origins of the so-called \u03c0-complex theory of metal-alkene complexes. Here I follow this up with some data mining of the crystal structure database for such structures. Alkene-metal \"\u03c0-complexes\" have what might be called a representational problem; they do not happily fit into the standard\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;crystal_structure_mining&quot;","block_context":{"text":"crystal_structure_mining","link":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?cat=1745"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8216,"url":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=8216","url_meta":{"origin":10448,"position":2},"title":"Secrets revealed for conjugate addition to cyclohexenone using a Cu-alkyl reagent.","author":"Henry Rzepa","date":"November 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The text books say that cyclohexenone A will react with a Grignard reagent by delivery of an alkyl (anion) to the carbon of the carbonyl (1,2-addition) but if dimethyl lithium cuprate is used, a conjugate 1,4-addition proceeds, to give the product B shown below. The standard explanation is that the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"metal\"","block_context":{"text":"metal","link":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?tag=metal"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ch.imperial.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/4.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":26812,"url":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=26812","url_meta":{"origin":10448,"position":3},"title":"Mechanistic templates computed for the Grubbs alkene-metathesis reaction.","author":"Henry Rzepa","date":"February 19, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Following on from my template exploration of the Wilkinson hydrogenation catalyst, I now repeat this for the Grubbs variant of the Alkene metathesis reaction. As with the Wilkinson, here I focus on the stereochemistry of the mechanism as first suggested by Chauvin, an aspect lacking in eg the Wikipedia entry.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Interesting chemistry&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Interesting chemistry","link":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9360,"url":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=9360","url_meta":{"origin":10448,"position":4},"title":"\u03c3-\u03c0-Conjugation: seeking evidence by a survey of crystal structures.","author":"Henry Rzepa","date":"February 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The electronic interaction between a single bond and an adjacent double bond is often called \u03c3-\u03c0-conjugation (an older term for this is hyperconjugation), and the effect is often used to e.g. explain why more highly substituted carbocations are more stable than less substituted ones. This conjugation is more subtle in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;crystal_structure_mining&quot;","block_context":{"text":"crystal_structure_mining","link":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?cat=1745"},"img":{"alt_text":"C-H\/alkene interaction. Click for  3D.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ch.imperial.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/cis-butene-orbitals.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9186,"url":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?p=9186","url_meta":{"origin":10448,"position":5},"title":"The \u03c0-complex in the benzidine rearrangement: a molecular orbital analysis.","author":"Henry Rzepa","date":"January 18, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Michael Dewar famously implicated a so-called\u00a0\u03c0-complex in the benzidine rearrangement, back in the days when quantum mechanical calculations could not yet provide a quantitatively accurate reality check. Because this\u00a0\u03c0-complex actually remains a relatively unusual species to encounter in day-to-day chemistry, I thought I would try to show in a simple\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Interesting chemistry&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Interesting chemistry","link":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"authors":[{"term_id":2661,"user_id":1,"is_guest":0,"slug":"admin","display_name":"Henry Rzepa","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/897b6740f7f599bca7942cdf7d7914af5988937ae0e3869ab09aebb87f26a731?s=96&d=blank&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10448"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11941,"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10448\/revisions\/11941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10448"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ch.ic.ac.uk\/rzepa\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fppma_author&post=10448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}