Imido Cobalt Complexes with Imidyl Character

We report on the synthesis of a variety of trigonal imido cobalt complexes [Co(NAryl)L₂)^–, (L = N(Dipp)SiMe₃), Dipp = 2,6-diisopropylphenyl) bearing very long Co–NAryl bonds of around 1.75 Å. The electronic structure was interrogated using a variety of physical and spectroscopic methods indicating the first authenticated examples of cobalt bound imidyl species. Computational studies corroborate these findings and reveal that the high-spin state of these complexes gives rise to unpaired spin-density on the imide nitrogen and leads to its imidyl character. Obtained complexes are capable of intermolecular H atom abstraction from C–H bonds that yields the corresponding cobalt amides. Exchange of the Dipp-substituent on the imide by the smaller mesityl function (2,4,6-trimethylphenyl) effectuates the unexpected Me₃Si shift from the ancillary ligand set to the imide nitrogen, followed by intramolecular C–H bond activation.