N-Heterocyclic Carbene Iron Silyl Hydride Complexes

International audienceReaction of N-heterocyclic carbene iron(0) tetracarbonyl complexes with hydrosilanes (triphenylsilane, methyldiphenylsilane and diphenylsilane) under UV irradiation (350 nm) afforded the octahedral N-heterocyclic carbene iron(II) silyl hydride complexes in yields up to 95 %, resulting from the oxidative addition of the hydrosilane. Eight iron silyl hydrides were obtained and characterized by NMR and X-ray diffraction analysis. Noticeably, the geometry of the iron-hydride complexes and the bent structures of the carbonyl ligands were rationalized by DFT calculations. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinhei