The one‐step synthesis of the amide‐functionalised tertiary phosphane 2‐Ph2PC6H4NHC(O)CH2NHCO2Bz (Bz = CH2Ph), 2·HH, by condensation of the known aminophosphane, 2‐Ph2PC6H4(NH2) (1), with N‐(benzyloxycarbonyl)glycine and dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCC) in THF at room temperature is reported. The new ligand 2·HH displays various coordination modes when complexed to a range of late transition‐metal precursors. Hence κ1‐P‐coordination for 2·HH is observed in the complexes ClAu(2·HH) (3), MCl2(η5‐Cp*)(2·HH) (M = Rh 4; Ir 5), RuCl2(η6‐p‐cymene)(2·HH) (6), Pd(κ2‐CN‐C12H12N)Cl(2·HH) (7) and MCl2(2·HH)2 (M = Pd 8; Pt 9). Treatment of 8 or 9 with tBuOK in CH3OH gave the bis‐κ2‐P/N‐chelate complexes cis‐M{2‐Ph2PC6H4NC(O)CH2NHCO2Bz}2 (M = Pt 10; Pd 11) in which both monoanionic ligands 2·H– are disposed in a cis geometry. The relatednickel(II) complex cis‐Ni{2‐Ph2PC6H4NC(O)CH2NHCO2Bz}2 (12) was prepared from NiCl2·6H2O, 2 equiv. of 2·HH and tBuOK in refluxing CH3OH. Reaction of the piano‐stool complex 5 with tBuOK in CH3OH gave the chiral‐at‐metal complex Ir(η5‐Cp*){2‐Ph2PC6H4NC(O)CH2NCO2Bz} (14), present in solution as two diastereomers. A single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction study of 14 confirmed the κ3‐P/N/N′‐tridentate coordination mode. Under similar conditions the chiral‐at‐metal ruthenium(II) complex Ru(η6‐p‐cymene){2‐Ph2PC6H4NC(O)CH2NCO2Bz} (15) was prepared in which 22– functions efficiently as a dianionic tridentate ligand. All new compounds have been characterised by multinuclear NMR [31P{1H}, 1H], FT‐IR, EI‐MS, ES‐MS and microanalysis. Furthermore, the X‐ray structures of ten compounds have been determined and reveal, in the majority of cases, a strong propensity for the –NHC(O)CH2NHCO2Bz group to engage in N–H···N, N–H···O and N–H···Cl hydrogen bonding.(© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2009)
