Mass Spectrometric Studies of Reductive Eliminationfrom Pd(IV) Complexes.

Reductive eliminationof ethane from the palladium(IV) complex[PdMe3(bpy)I] (bpy = 2,2′-bipyridine) is studiedby electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. Palladium(IV) complexescan be detected as binuclear clusters [Pd2Me6I(bpy)2]+or as complexes [PdMe3(bpy)(L)]+stabilized by an electron-donating ligand L.Fragmentation of all palladium(IV) complexes is dominated by eliminationof ethane which corresponds to the reductive elimination couplingof the methyl groups. The associated energy demands for differentcomplexes reveal that the mononuclear complexes with poorly electron-donatingligands provide the fastest reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]