One Bridge, Three Bonds: A Frontier in Multiple Bonding in Heterobimetallic Complexes

A single bridging phosphinoamide ligand was shown to support a metal-metal triple bond in a Zr/Co heterobimetallic complex. The similarity of the bonding in this compound to previously synthesized Zr/Co species, and therefore the assignment of the Zr/Co triple bond, is supported by the structural parameters of the complex, the electronic structure predicted by density functional theory, and complete-active-space self-consistent-field (CASSCF) calculations. This demonstrates that metal-metal multiple bonds can be realized in heterobimetallic complexes without multiple bridging ligands to enforce the proximity of the two metals.