Quantum Chemical Investigation of Metal-Metal Bonded Paddlewheel Complexes: Electronic Structure and Reactivity

Using computational driven quantum chemical methods to fill in the gaps of understanding left by experimental work, we have shown that density functional theory (DFT) (supported in some cases by higher level CASSCF calculations) can provide a detailed picture of electronic structure and reactivity patterns that enriches our understanding of dimetal paddlewheel complexes. Through the work presented here, we fortify the notion that chemistry can stand to benefit a great deal from the synergy generated by creating quantum chemical frameworks to understand experimental results. When appropriately validated by comparison to experiments, quantum chemistry is a solid tool capable probing fundamental questions concerning chemical bonding and reactivity. Furthermore, it is possible to extrapolate to areas where experimental work is not yet able to reach, such as providing a detailed picture of how electronic structure considerations govern a reaction.;We present in Chapter 2 that DFT successfully recreates an intramolecular aryl C--H bond amination reaction by a Ru--Ru≡N nitrido complex and correctly predicts the structures of these dimetal paddlewheel complexes featuring significant metal-metal bonding with varying axial ligand interactions and that the energies of these structures are in excellent accord with experimentally determined energies. A measured kinetic isotope effect is also used to support the DFT results and help validate the transition state structure for the rate limiting step.;In Chapter 3, we present a purely computational analysis that aims to understand the reaction first investigated in Chapter 2 in more detail by developing a truncated model system that includes 37 atoms compared to the full molecule which is a 107 atom complex. Using the truncated ligand system, intramolecular C--H amination reactions are examined that feature 15 different combinations of 4d metal-metal interactions for both M'--Ru≡N and M'--Mo≡N type complexes.;In Chapter 4, we use DFT methods to understand the electronic structure and bonding of an iron dimer that presents a unique crystal structure and S = 4 ground spin state. We use the broken symmetry formalism to understand the nature of the metal-metal bonding between the iron centers, which is not clear from the experimental data.