A perchlorate-promoted electrochemically induced nitride coupling reaction

Abstract

The osmium nitride complex [Os-VI(NH3)(4)N](3+) undergoes a one-electron reduction in acetonitrile to give [Os-V(N)(NH3)(4)](2+), which further reacts by nitride coupling to give the p-dinitrogen osmium complex [(CH3CN)(NH3)(4)Os-II(N-2)Os-II(NH3)(4)(CH3CN)](4+). The formation of the p-dinitrogen osmium complex is promoted by the presence of perchlorate anion, which causes the deposition of [(CH3CN)(NH3)(4)Os-II(N-2)Os-II(NH3)(4)(CH3CN)](ClO4)(4) On the electrode surface upon repetitive voltammetric scans. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.