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The international journal for inorganic, organometallic and bioinorganic chemistry



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Paper

J. Chem. Soc., Dalton Trans., 1994, 1563 - 1569, DOI: 10.1039/DT9940001563

Molecular structure of tetrakis(tert-butylimido)osmium(VIII), determined in the gas phase by electron diffraction

David W. H. Rankin, Heather E. Robertson, Andreas A. Danopoulos, Paul D. Lyne, D. Michael P. Mingos and Geoffrey Wilkinson

The molecular structure of Os(NBut)4 has been determined in the gas phase by electron diffraction. The NBut groups are in a distorted-tetrahedral arrangement around the central osmium atom, and bent in such a way that the overall molecular symmetry is reduced to S4. The Os–N bond length (ra) is 175.0(3) pm, and Os–N–C is 156.4(15)°. Two of the N–Os–N angles (about the S4 axis) are 104.6(14)° and the other four are 111.9(7)°. Other important parameters are r(N–C) 147.6(9), r(C–C) 1 52.7(4) pm and N–C–C 107.0(5)°. Geometrical parameters for Os(NMe)4 and Os(NH)4 optimised using density functional theory are presented, and interpreted with the aid of extended-Hückel calculations.