ational synthetic method development is driven by the ability to relate reactivity to the electronic structures of key transient intermediates. For example, organic nitrenes (R-N) are generally highly reactive monovalent nitrogen species and detailed spectroscopic studies have enabled the assignment of their diverse reaction pathways, such as C-H insertion or N-N coupling, to the accessibility of triplet versus (open shell) singlet spin states 1,2 . In comparison, the well-established class of nitrido complexes (L n MN) commonly features trivalent nitrogen with significant covalent components of M-N σand π-bonding (Fig. 1a) 3 . Increased radical and electrophilic nitrogen character can be formally represented by divalent nitridyl all the way to monovalent metallonitrene contributions 4 . Formal nitrido complexes with predominant subvalent metallonitrene (L n M-N) character, which can be regarded as metal analogues of organic nitrenes, have been proposed as key intermediates in stoichiometric intramolecular [5][6][7][8][9] and intermolecular 10-15 nitrogen atom transfer reactions. However, in contrast to organic nitrenes 16 , authentic metallonitrenes with a monovalent atomic nitrogen ligand remain elusive, which impedes the development of new nitrogen transfer reactions based on electronic structure/reactivity relationships.The emergence of C-H amination and amidation via nitrene transfer as a powerful synthetic tool was fuelled by the development of group 9-11 transition metal catalysts that facilitate selective insertion of coordinated nitrene fragments (Fig. 1b) [17][18][19] . Late transition metals are also instrumental as anode materials in electrocatalytic amine oxidation for synthetic and fuel cell applications [20][21][22] . The dominance of late transition metals in redox transformations of nitrogenous species stimulated fundamental interest in M-N(R) bonding 3 . C-H insertion by L n M-NR species has been associated with electrophilic subvalent nitrene ( 3 NR) 23 or imidyl ( 2 NR − ) [24][25][26] character that arises from low lying d orbitals of late transition met-als. This strongly reduces the imido ( 1 NR 2− ) contribution 27,28 . Similar considerations might apply for metallonitrene (L n M-N) or nitridyl (L n M=N • ) versus nitrido (L n M≡N) species (Fig. 1a). However, intermolecular C-H activation has not been reported for the few known late transition metal nitrido or nitridyl complexes [29][30][31] . The exploitation of nitrogen atom insertion reactivity (Fig. 1b) is still in its infancy; as of yet, catalytic protocols are not known and systematic advances suffer from the lack of well-defined metallonitrene platforms.In this contribution, a formal nitrido complex beyond group 9 is reported. Crystallographic, spectroscopic, magnetic and computational characterization shows a triplet electronic ground state with a predominantly single-bonded metallonitrene (L n Pt ii -N) and nitrogen-centred diradical character. Facile N-atom insertion into C-H, B-H and B-C bonds is demonstrated. In contrast to the...

A combined experimental and theoretical study on the mechanism of the C–F bond activation of C6F6 with [Ni(NHC)2] is provided.

C−H amination and amidation by catalytic nitrene transfer are well‐established and typically proceed via electrophilic attack of nitrenoid intermediates. In contrast, the insertion of (formal) terminal nitride ligands into C−H bonds is much less developed and catalytic nitrogen atom transfer remains unknown. We here report the synthesis of a formal terminal nitride complex of palladium. Photocrystallographic, magnetic, and computational characterization support the assignment as an authentic metallonitrene (Pd−N) with a diradical nitrogen ligand that is singly bonded to PdII. Despite the subvalent nitrene character, selective C−H insertion with aldehydes follows nucleophilic selectivity. Transamidation of the benzamide product is enabled by reaction with N3SiMe3. Based on these results, a photocatalytic protocol for aldehyde C−H trimethylsilylamidation was developed that exhibits inverted, nucleophilic selectivity as compared to typical nitrene transfer catalysis. This first example of catalytic C−H nitrogen atom transfer offers facile access to primary amides after deprotection.

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We showcase here a dramatic failure of CCSD(T) theory that originates from the pronounced multi‐reference character of a key intermediate formed in the benzaldehyde amidation by N‐atom transfer from Pd(II) and Pt(II) metallonitrenes studied recently in combined experimental and theoretical work. For detailed analysis we devised a minimal model system, for which we established reliable reference energies based on approximate full configuration interaction theory, to assess the performance of single‐reference coupled‐cluster theory up to the CCSDTQ(P) excitation level. While RHF‐based CCSD(T) theory suffered dramatic errors, in one case exceeding 220 kcal mol−1, we show that the use of broken‐symmetry (BS) or Kohn‐Sham (KS) orbital references yields substantially improved CCSD(T) results. Further, the EOM‐SF‐CCSD(T)(a)* approach met the reference data with excellent accuracy. We applied the KS‐CCSD(T*)‐F12b variant as high‐level part of an ONIOM(KS‐CC:DFT) scheme to reinvestigate the reactivity of the full Pt(II) and Pd(II) metallonitrenes. The revised reaction pathway energetics provide a detailed mechanistic rationale for the experimental observations.