Trapping of two mononuclear silyl platinum()/palladium() complexes and a unique dinuclear bis(μ-disilene)(silyl)nickel() complex

The reaction of chelating 1,2-disilyl hydrides with transition metal precursors featuring low steric hindrance phosphine ligands always produces multinuclear frameworks through mononuclear silyl metal intermediates. Capture of intermediates is very essential to clarify the formation mechanism and structural features of multinuclear species. Here, we succeed in trapping and characterizing two mononuclear platinum and palladium silyl intermediates 4 and 5 by changing the steric hindrance of the substituents and/or ultilizing the intermediate's unique chemical reactivity, and a very unique nickel( ii ) 6 unprecedently, which is the first structurally characterized dinuclear silyl nickel( ii ) complex with a bridging μ 2 -disilene unit. Two rare mononuclear bis(silyl)platinum( ii )/palladium( ii ) intermediates and an unprecedented dinuclear bis(μ 2 -disilene)(silyl)nickel( ii ) complex have been trapped and prepared.