ELECTROCHEMICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF COMPOUNDS HAVING ISOMERIC FORMS WITH SIMILAR STANDARD REDOX POTENTIALS - OXIDATION OF BIS(TRI-NORMAL-BUTYLPHOSPHINE)MOLYBDENUM TETRACARBONYL AND RELATED COMPLEXES

The electrochemical oxidation or reduction of compounds existing in isomeric forms can be accompanied by conversions from one structural form to another. If the isomeric forms have similar standard redox potentials, structural rearrangements can be difficult to detect. Thus, the electrochemistry of compounds having isomeric forms, while frequently appearing to be deceptively simple, can be extremely complicated. Mo(CO)4(P-n-Bu3)2 can exist in cis and trans isomeric forms and the trans+/trans and cis+/cis standard redox potentials are similar. This and related systems such as Mo(CO)4(PEt3)2 and Mo(CO)4(PPh3)2 are therefore used to provide examples which illustrate the interactions that may need to be considered. Importantly, it is demonstrated that structural rearrangements of these kind occurring via an intramolecular mechanism do not lead to the observation of slow electron transfer. 1981, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.

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