Dioxygen Activation by Non-Adiabatic Oxidative Addition to a Single Metal Center.

A chromium(I) dinitrogen complex reacts rapidly with O2 to form the mononuclear dioxo complex [TptBu,MeCrV(O)2] (TptBu,Me=hydrotris(3-tert-butyl-5-methylpyrazolyl)borate), whereas the analogous reaction with sulfur stops at the persulfido complex [TptBu,MeCrIII(S2)]. The transformation of the putative peroxo intermediate [TptBu,MeCrIII(O2)] (S=3/2) into [TptBu,MeCrV(O)2] (S=1/2) is spin-forbidden. The minimum-energy crossing point for the two potential energy surfaces has been identified. Although the dinuclear complex [(TptBu,MeCr)2(μ-O)2] exists, mechanistic experiments suggest that O2 activation occurs on a single metal center, by an oxidative addition on the quartet surface followed by crossover to the doublet surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]