The reactions of amide functionalized
bisphosphine o-Ph2PC6H4C(O)N(H)C6H4PPh2-o (1) with platinum
salts are described. Treatment of 1 with [Pt(COD)Cl2] yielded a chelate complex, [PtCl2{o-Ph2PC6H4C(O)N(H)C6H4PPh2-o}κ
2
-P,P] (2), which on subsequent treatment with LiHMDS formed a novel 1,2-azaphospholene-phosphine
complex [Pt(C6H5)Cl{o-C6H4{C(O)N(o-PPh2(C6H4))P(Ph)}}κ
2
-P,P] (3) involving
a tandem P–C bond cleavage and P–N bond formation. The
same complex 3 on passing dry HCl gas afforded the dichloro
complex [PtCl2{o-C6H4{C(O)N(o-PPh2(C6H4))P(Ph)}}κ
2
-P,P] (5). Complex 2 upon refluxing
in toluene or treatment of 1 with [Pt(COD)Cl2] in the presence of a base at room temperature resulted in the pincer
complex [PtCl{o-Ph2PC6H4C(O)N(C6H4PPh2-o)}κ
3
-P,N,P] (4). Reaction of 1 with [Pt(COD)ClMe]
at room temperature also afforded the pincer complex [PtMe{o-Ph2PC6H4C(O)N(C6H4PPh2-o)}κ
3
-P,N,P] (6). Mechanistic studies on 1,2-azaphospholene formation showed the
reductive elimination of LiCl to form a phosphonium salt that readily
adds one of the P–C bonds oxidatively to the in situ generated Pt0 species to form a chelate complex 3. The analogous palladium complex [PdCl2{o-C6H4{C(O)N(o-PPh2(C6H4))P(Ph)}}κ
2
-P,P] (7) showed excellent catalytic activity toward N-alkylation
of amines with alcohols with a very low catalyst loading (0.05 mol
%), and the methodology is very efficient toward the gram-scale synthesis
of many N-alkylated amines.