TERTIARY PHOSPHINE COMPLEXES OF LOW-VALENT ZIRCONIUM AND THEIR PROPERTIES

The low-valent chemistry of the group 4 transition elements has been restricted to derivatives with carbocyclic ligands. Thus, Ti(II), Zr(II), and Ti(0) compounds containing ligated benzene,1 cyclooctatetraene,2 cyclopentadicnyl,3 and substituted cyclopentadieny]4 ions and tropylium ion5 are known. No stable derivatives of Zr(0) or Hf(0) have been reported. We report the preparation of Zr(0) and Zr(II) complexes of the chelating, bidentate phosphine l, 2-bis(dimethylphosphino)ethane and their activity as hydrogenation and hydrogen-transfer catalysts.© 1979, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.