The neutral, T-shaped complex Cu(I)(PN(-)P(tBu)) (2), featuring a dearomatized 2,6-bis(diphosphino)pyridine (PNP)-pincer ligand, is shown to interact rapidly with electrophiles. This has enabled the synthesis of acetato complex 3. Furthermore, C-C bond formation onto the deprotonated methylene-bridgehead carbon is observed with MeOTf as the electrophile. This represents the first case of selective modification of the lutidine-based backbone of such noninnocent PNP ligands. Theoretical calculations support the formation of monomeric complex 2 and indicate the high reactivity of the methylene fragment in this Cu(I) complex.

Dedicated to Professor Joachim Bargon (Universit‰t Bonn) on the occasion of his 65 th birthday.Abstract: The synthesis of a novel class of sterically demanding diphosphonites 1 ± 8, based on rigid backbones, is described. The starting materials are all commercially available and the methodology allows for a modular approach. All ligands have been fully characterized, including an X-ray crystal structure for compound 1, 4,5-bis{di[(2-tert-butyl)phenyl]phosphonito}-9,9-dimethylxanthene. The coordination of these diphosphonite ligands towards Ni(II) and Ni(0) precursors is investigated, both by NMR spectroscopy as well as X-ray crystallography and compared with the behaviour of diphosphine ligands such as Xantphos. The molecular structure for complex 9, trans-[NiBr 2 (1)] is described in detail. The nickel-catalyzed isomerization of 2-methyl-3-butenenitrile to 3-pentenenitrile is studied, a relevant step in the industrially important hydrocyanation of butadiene (the DuPont adiponitrile process). Good activities and selectivities to the desired 3-pentenenitrile are obtained in this reversible C À C bond activation reaction.

The coordination chemistry of various sterically constrained diphosphonites 1-6 with rhodium are reported. The stoichiometric reaction of ligand 5 with [Rh(µ-Cl(CO) 2 ] 2 gives rise to the sole formation of trans-[RhCl(CO)(5)] (7), as shown by NMR and IR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. The molecular structure reveals a weak interaction between the metal center and the oxygen from the xanthene backbone. This complex serves as a structural model for the first intermediate in the catalytic cycle of rhodium hydroformylation, [Rh(H)-(CO)(PkP)]. A detailed study on the solution structure of the catalyst resting state under catalytic conditions is performed by high-pressure NMR and FT-IR spectroscopy. The spectroscopic data show that under hydroformylation conditions the bidentate ligands form well-defined complexes with the structure [Rh(H)(CO) 2 (PkP)]. All ligands show preference for a bis-equatorial (ee) coordination mode in the trigonal-bipyramidal Rh complexes. These novel sterically constrained diphosphonite ligands are applied in the rhodium hydroformylation of 1-octene and 2-butene, and good activities and regioselectivities are obtained.

Silsesquioxanes are employed as ligand backbones for the synthesis of novel phosphite compounds with 3,3'-5,5'-tetrakis(tert-butyl)-2,2'-dioxa-1,1'-biphenyl substituents. Both mono-and bidentate phosphites are prepared in good yields. Two types of silsesquioxanes are employed as starting materials. The monophosphinite 1 and the monophosphite 2 are prepared from the thallium silsesquioxide derived from a completely condensed silsesquioxane framework (c-C 5 H 9 ) 7 Si 7 O 12 SiOTl. The diphosphite 3 is synthesized starting with the incompletely condensed monosilylated disilanol (c-C 5 H 9 ) 7 Si 7 O 9 (OSiMePh 2 )(OH) 2 . For monophosphite 2, the corresponding trans-[PtCl 2 (2)] complex 4 is characterized by NMR spectroscopy as well as by Xray crystallography, as the first example of a completely condensed oxo-functionalized silsesquioxane framework. The coordination of the bidentate ligand 3 towards Pd, Mo and Rh is studied, both by NMR spectroscopy as well as by X-ray crystallography.

Key indicatorsSingle-crystal X-ray study T = 150 K Mean (C-C) = 0.009 Å R factor = 0.034 wR factor = 0.054 Data-to-parameter ratio = 19.7For details of how these key indicators were automatically derived from the article, see