Direct synthesis of ligand-based radicals by the addition of bipyridine to chromium(II) compounds.

The reaction of 2,2'-bipyridine (bpy) with monomeric chromium(II) precursors was used to prepare the S = 1 complexes Cr(tBu-acac)2(bpy) (1) and (η(5)-Cp)(η(1)-Cp)Cr(bpy) (3), as well as the S = 2 compound Cr[N(SiMe3)2]2(bpy) (4). The crystallographically determined bond lengths indicate that the bpy ligands in 1 and 3 are best regarded as radical anions, while 4 shows no structural evidence for electron transfer from Cr(II) to the neutral bpy ligand.