The Lewis basicity of diaminocarbene - A theoretical study of donor- acceptor complexes of C(NH2)2, NH3 and CO with the Lewis acids EF3, ECl3 (E = B, Al, Ga, In), TiF4 and TiCl4

Ariana Beste, Oliver Krämer, Anja Gerhard, Gernot Frenking

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Abstract

Quantum chemical calculations at the MP2 level using large valence basis sets up to TZ+2P quality have been carried out in order to predict the geometries and bond energies of the title compounds. The nature of the donor- acceptor bond has also been investigated. The calculations show clearly that diaminocarbenes are much stronger Lewis bases than amines. The complexation energies of C(NH2)2 have been calculated to be 14-27 kcal/mol higher than those of NH3. The most strongly bonded complex is Cl3Al-C(NH2)2, which has a theoretically predicted Al-C bond energy D(o) = 59.1 kcal/mol. In all the complexes, the strength of the Lewis bases is C(NH2)2 > NH3 > CO, but the ordering of Lewis acid strength of EX3 depends on the coordinated Lewis base. TiF4 and TiCl4 have similar Lewis acidities as BF3, but the titanium tetrahalides may bind one or two donor molecules with almost the same bond strength. The investigated donor-acceptor bonds have a high degree of ionic character. The largest covalent contributions aye found for the diaminocarbene complexes. The covalent character of the X3E-CO bond increases on-going from E = boron to the heavier Group 13 elements, while the opposite order is found for the X3E-NH3 and X3E-C(NH2)2 bonds.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2037-2045
Number of pages9
JournalEuropean Journal of Inorganic Chemistry
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - 1999
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Ab initio calculations
  • Diaminocarbenes
  • Donor-acceptor complexes
  • Lewis basicity

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