Metal⋠⋠⋠F-C Bonding in Low-Coordinate Alkaline Earth Fluoroarylamides.

A set of calcium and barium complexes containing the fluoroarylamide N(C6 F5 )2 - is presented. These compounds illustrate the key role of stabilising M⋅⋅⋅F-C secondary interactions in the construction of low-coordinate alkaline earth complexes. The nature of Ca⋅⋅⋅F-C bonding in calcium complexes is examined in the light of structural data, bond valence sum (BVS) analysis and DFT computations. The molecular structures of [Ca{N(C6 F5 )2 }2 (Et2 O)2 ] (4'), [Ca{µ-N(SiMe3 )2 }{N(C6 F5 )2 }]2 (52 ), [Ba{µ-N(C6 F5 )2 }{N(C6 F5 )2 }⋅toluene]2 (62 ), [{BDIDiPP }CaN(C6 F5 )2 ]2 (72 ), [{N^NDiPP }CaN(C6 F5 )2 ]2 (82 ), and [Ca{µ-OB(CH(SiMe3 )2 )2 }{N(C6 F5 )2 }]2 (92 ), where {BDIDiPP }- and {N^NDiPP }- are the bidentate ligands CH[C(CH3 )NDipp]2 - and DippNC6 H4 CNDipp- (Dipp=2,6-iPr2 -C6 H3 ), are detailed. Complex 62 displays strong Ba⋅⋅⋅F-C contacts at around 2.85 Å. The calcium complexes feature also very short intramolecular Ca-F interatomic distances at around 2.50 Å. In addition, the three-coordinate complexes 72 and 82 form dinuclear structures due to intermolecular Ca⋅⋅⋅F-C contacts. BVS analysis shows that Ca⋅⋅⋅F-C interactions contribute to 15-20 % of the bonding pattern around calcium. Computations demonstrate that Ca⋅⋅⋅F-C bonding is mostly electrostatic, but also contains a non-negligible covalent contribution. They also suggest that Ca⋅⋅⋅F-C are the strongest amongst the range of weak Ca⋅⋅⋅X (X=F, H, Cπ ) secondary interactions, due to the high positive charge of Ca2+ which favours electrostatic interactions.