Metal-metal bonding in bridging hydride and alkyl compounds

Abstract

A theoretical analysis of the bonding in a series of dinuclear compounds that feature bridging hydride or alkyl ligands indicates that the direct metal-metal bond order is best predicted by an electron-counting procedure in which 3-center-2-electron M-H-M and M-R-M interactions are represented by the μ-LX "halfarrow" method. In contrast, an electron-counting procedure which apportions half of the valence electron of H or R to each metal center results in direct metal-metal bond orders that are not in accord with theory. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010.