This literature discussion is based on a short paper describing a series of Group VI metal carbonyl compounds that have pincer ligands (Organometallics, 2016

Literature discussion about the first examples of molecular hydrogen complexes isolated by Gregory J. Kubas in the early 80s. The questions are divided into groups with two levels of difficulty.

The more basic group of questions includes topics on:

1)      Coordination Chemistry: electron count, geometry, oxidation state, orbital interactions, types of ligands, binding modes, cis/trans and fac/mer isomers.

2)      Symmetry elements and point groups.

3)      Basic concepts on spectroscopy: NMR, Raman, IR, UV/Vis, XANES, EXAFS, neutron and X-ray diffraction

This is a literature discussion based on a short paper on ethylene compounds of the coinage metals (Dias, H. V. R.; Wu, J. Organometallics 2012, 31, 1511-1517). In this paper, analogous ethylene compounds are prepared with Cu(I), Ag(I) and Au(I). The other ligand on the coinage metal is a scorpionate tris(pyrazolyl)borate ligand. The strength of the interaction between the metal and the ethylene varies significantly with the coinage metal as seen in X-ray crystallographic and spectroscopic (¹H and ¹³C NMR) data.

The article “Synthesis and Reactivity of Oxorhenium(V) Methyl, Benzyl, and Phenyl Complexes with CO; Implications for a Unique Mechanism for Migratory Insertion,” Robbins, LK; Lilly, CP; Smeltz, JL; Boyle, PD; Ison, EA;, Organometallics 2015, 34, 3152-3158 is an interesting read for students studying reaction mechanisms of organometallic complexes.  The reading guide directs students to the sections of the paper that support the question posed in the Discussion Questions document.