Preparation, Molecular and Electronic Structures, and Magnetic Properties of Face-Sharing Bioctahedral Titanium(III) Compounds: [PPh 4 ][Ti 2 (μ-Cl) 3 Cl 4 (PR 3 ) 2 ] Linfeng Chen, ² F. Albert Cotton,* Kim R. Dunbar, Xuejun Feng, ² Robert A. Heintz, and Calvin Uzelmeir Department of Chemistry and Laboratory for Molecular Structure and Bonding, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, and Department of Chemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824 ReceiVed May 30, 1996 X Reduction of TiCl 4 with 1 equiv of HSnBu 3 followed by addition of [PPh 4 ]Cl and then PR 3 leads to two new dinuclear titanium(III) compounds, [PPh 4 ][Ti 2 (µ-Cl) 3 Cl 4 (PR 3 ) 2 ] (R ) Et and R 3 ) Me 2 Ph), both of which contain an anion with the face-sharing bioctahedral type structure. Their crystal structures are reported. [PPh 4 ][Ti 2 (µ- Cl) 3 Cl 4 (PEt 3 ) 2 ]2CH 2 Cl 2 crystallized in the triclinic space group P1 h. Cell dimensions: a ) 12.461(1) Å, b ) 20.301(8) Å, c ) 11.507(5) Å, R) 91.44°, ) 113.27(1)°, γ ) 104.27(2)°, and Z ) 2. The distance between titanium atoms is 3.031(2) Å. [PPh 4 ][Ti 2 (µ-Cl) 3 Cl 4 (PMe 2 Ph) 2 ]CH 2 Cl 2 also crystallized in the triclinic space group P1 h with cell dimensitions a ) 11.635(4) Å, b ) 19.544(3) Å, c ) 11.480(3) Å, R) 100.69(2)°, ) 109.70(1)°, γ ) 95.08(2)°, and Z ) 2. The distance between titanium atoms in this compound is 2.942(1) Å. Variable temperature magnetic susceptibilities were measured for [PPh 4 ][Ti 2 (µ-Cl) 3 Cl 4 (PEt 3 ) 2 ]. Electronic structure calculations were carried out for a model ion, [Ti 2 (µ-Cl) 3 Cl 4 (PH 3 ) 2 ] - , and another well-known anion, [Ti 2 (µ- Cl) 3 Cl 6 ] 3- , by employing an ab initio configuration interaction method. The results of the calculations reveal that the metal-metal interaction in these Ti(III) face-sharing compounds can be best described by strong antiferromagnetic coulping that leads to a singlet ground state and a thermally accessible triplet first excited state. Accordingly the measured magnetic data were satisfactorily fitted to a spin-only formula. Introduction Titanium has a marked tendency to form cluster species that possess bridging halogen atoms. 1 One important class of dinuclear titanium(III) complex are those with a structure of two fused octahedra that share a common edge. Many such edge-sharing bioctahedral compounds have been synthesized and crystallographically characterized. 2 Another important class comprises those in which two titanium atoms are bridged by three halogen atoms as to form a face-sharing bioctahedron, exemplified by the two dinuclear Ti(IV) compounds [(C 6 - Me 6 )TiCl 3 ][Ti 2 (µ-Cl) 3 Cl 6 ] 3 and [PCl 4 ][Ti 2 (µ-Cl) 3 Cl 6 ], 4 both of which contain a crystallographically characterized bioctahedral [Ti 2 (µ-Cl) 3 Cl 6 ] - ion. Dinuclear Ti(III) compounds that exhibit the face-sharing bioctahedral structure are unknown, except for the solid state salts, A 3 Ti 2 X 9 (A ) Cs, Rb, Et 2 NH 2 ;X ) Cl, Br), 5-8 which contain a [Ti 2 (µ-X) 3 X 6 ] 3- anion. It has long been known that the crystal structures of these salts are isomorphous with that of Cs 3 Cr 2 Cl 9 , 5 but full structural characterization has never been formally reported. 7 The [Ti 2 Cl 9 ] 3- ion has been extensively studied for its spectroscopic and, in particular, magnetic properties. 6-10 Interest in the latter stems from the high symmetry (D 3h ) of the anion and its simple d 1 -d 1 electronic configuration, which renders it an ideal candidate for studying magnetic exchange interaction between two metal centers with orbitally degenerate local ground states where unquenched orbital angular momenta are involved. 7-10 Recent studies in this laboratory involving titanium chemistry have led to a number of new types of titanium compounds. Herein we report the synthesis and characterization of two new dinuclear Ti(III) compounds, namely, [PPh 4 ][Ti 2 (µ-Cl) 3 Cl 4 (PEt 3 ) 2 ] and [PPh 4 ][Ti 2 (µ-Cl) 3 Cl 4 (PMe 2 Ph) 2 ]. These compounds, which both contain a [Ti 2 Cl 7 (PR 3 ) 2 ] - anion with the face-sharing bioctahedral structure, constitute the first Ti(III) compounds of this type to have been fully characterized by X-ray crystal- lography. In addition to the synthetic and structural significance, magnetic properties of these new compounds will also be of great interest since they provide an instructive comparison to those of [Ti 2 Cl 9 ] 3- . The variable temperature magnetic sus- ceptibilities have therefore been measured for one of the compounds, namely, [PPh 4 ][Ti 2 Cl 7 (PEt 3 ) 2 ]. In conjunction with ² Texas A&M University. Michigan State University. X Abstract published in AdVance ACS Abstracts, November 1, 1996. (1) (a) Bottrill, M.; Gavens, P. D.; McMeeking, J. Low Valent Complexes of Titanium. In ComprehensiVe Organometallic Chemistry; Wilkinson, G., Stone, F. G. A., Abel, E. W., Eds.; Pergamon Press: Oxford, England, 1982; Vol. 3, Chapter 22.2. (b) McAuliffe, C. A.; Barratt, D. S. 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