Experimental and theoretical investigations on the high-electron donor character of pyrido-annelated N-heterocyclic carbenes

Rh(CO)(2)Cl(NHC) complexes of dipyrido-annelated N-heterocyclic carbenes were prepared. From the C-H coupling constant of the respective imidazolium salts and the N-C-N angle of the N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC), a weaker sigma-donor character than that of typical unsaturated NHCs is expected. However, the IR stretching frequencies of their Rh(CO)(2)Cl complexes suggest an electron-donor character even stronger than that of saturated NHCs. We ascribe this to the extremely weak pi-acceptor character of the dipyrido-annelated NHCs caused by the conjugated 14 pi e(-) system that thus allows for an enhanced Rh-CO backbonding. This extremely low pi-acceptor ability is also corroborated by the Se-77 NMR chemical shift of -55.8 ppm for the respective selenourea, the lowest value ever measured for imidazole derived selenoureas. DFT-calculations of the free carbene confirm the low s-donor character by the fact that the sigma-orbital of the carbene is the HOMO-1 that lies 0.58 eV below the HOMO which is located at the pi-system. Natural population analysis reveals the lowest occupation of the p(pi)-orbital for the saturated carbene carbon atom and the highest for the pyrido-annelated carbene. Going from the free carbene to the Rh(CO)(2)Cl(NHC) complexes, the increase in occupancy of the complete pi-system of the carbene ligand upon coordination is lowest for the pyrido-annelated carbene and highest for the saturated carbene.