Structural Diversity Within the Series of 68-Electron M4L n E2 (L = 2-Electron Ligand; M = Fe, Ru, Os, Co; E = CH, N, P, NR, PR, S) Organometallic Clusters: A Theoretical Investigation

Abstract

Four different skeletal structural arrangements with very different connectivities are known for 6-vertex/68-electron of M 4 E 2 core (M = transition metal; E = main-group atom or ligand). DFT calculations on a large number of title model compounds allow to rationalize the preferences between these structural shapes with respect to the nature of the metal and main-group elements constituting the cluster cage. In particular, the electronegativity of M and the ''size'' (first-row vs. second-row element) of E play an important role in the stability preference of a particular isomer. For several compounds, although only one type of structure is known, other low-energy isomeric forms are also likely to exist. Moreover, two structural types, so far unreported, are predicted to be stable enough for being synthesized.Dedicated to our friend Richard D. Adams on the occasion of his 65th birthday.Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (