C−H Activation and C−C Coupling of Arenes by Cationic Pt(II) Complexes

Abstract
The synthesis and characterization of cationic platinum complexes of the type [(R2PC2H4PR2)PtMe(OEt2)]BArF (R = Cy, Et) are reported. These electrophilic platinum cations are found to react quantitatively with arenes (benzene, toluene) at room temperature by undergoing intermolecular C−H activation with concomitant C−C coupling to generate complexes of the type [{Pt(R2PC2H4PR2)}2(μ-η33-biaryl)][BArF]2. The dianionic biaryl ligands in these compounds exhibit a rare μ-η33-bis-allyl bonding mode and can be removed from the complex with stoichiometric oxidants to generate the free biaryl and [(R2PC2H4PR2)Pt(μ-X)]2[BArF]2 (R = Cy, Et; X = Cl, I). The cationic platinum complexes [(R2PC2H4PR2)PtMe(OEt2)]BArF (R = Cy, Et) are also quite reactive with water, forming the bridging hydroxide complexes [(R2PC2H4PR2)Pt(μ-OH)]2[BArF]2 (R = Cy, Et). A possible mechanism is proposed for the C−C coupling reaction based upon the structures of these bridging biphenyl complexes, which provides a new perspective for the related palladium-catalyzed oxidative coupling of arenes to form biaryls.

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