TY - JOUR A1 - Franzsico, Marcos A. S. A1 - Fantuzzi, Felipe A1 - Cardozo, Thiago M. A1 - Esteves, Pierre M. A1 - Engels, Bernd A1 - Oliveira, Ricardo R. T1 - Taming the Antiferromagnetic Beast: Computational Design of Ultrashort Mn-Mn Bonds Stabilized by N-Heterocyclic Carbenes JF - Chemistry—A European Journal N2 - The development of complexes featuring low-valent, multiply bonded metal centers is an exciting field with several potential applications. In this work, we describe the design principles and extensive computational investigation of new organometallic platforms featuring the elusive manganese-manganese bond stabilized by experimentally realized N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs). By using DFT computations benchmarked against multireference calculations, as well as MO- and VB-based bonding analyses, we could disentangle the various electronic and structural effects contributing to the thermodynamic and kinetic stability, as well as the experimental feasibility, of the systems. In particular, we explored the nature of the metal-carbene interaction and the role of the ancillary η\(^{6}\) coordination to the generation of Mn\(_{2}\) systems featuring ultrashort metal-metal bonds, closed-shell singlet multiplicities, and positive adiabatic singlet-triplet gaps. Our analysis identifies two distinct classes of viable synthetic targets, whose electrostructural properties are thoroughly investigated. KW - metal-metal interactions KW - ab initio calculations KW - carbene ligands KW - density functional calculations KW - manganese Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-256874 VL - 27 IS - 47 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schmidt, Paul A1 - Fantuzzi, Felipe A1 - Klopf, Jonas A1 - Schröder, Niklas B. A1 - Dewhurst, Rian D. A1 - Braunschweig, Holger A1 - Engel, Volker A1 - Engels, Bernd T1 - Twisting versus delocalization in CAAC- and NHC-stabilized boron-based biradicals: the roles of sterics and electronics JF - Chemistry - A European Journal N2 - Twisted boron-based biradicals featuring unsaturated C\(_2\)R\(_2\) (R=Et, Me) bridges and stabilization by cyclic (alkyl)(amino)carbenes (CAACs) were recently prepared. These species show remarkable geometrical and electronic differences with respect to their unbridged counterparts. Herein, a thorough computational investigation on the origin of their distinct electrostructural properties is performed. It is shown that steric effects are mostly responsible for the preference for twisted over planar structures. The ground-state multiplicity of the twisted structure is modulated by the σ framework of the bridge, and different R groups lead to distinct multiplicities. In line with the experimental data, a planar structure driven by delocalization effects is observed as global minimum for R=H. The synthetic elusiveness of C\(_2\)R\(_2\)-bridged systems featuring N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) was also investigated. These results could contribute to the engineering of novel main group biradicals. KW - chemistry KW - radicals KW - ab initio calculations KW - boron KW - carbene ligands KW - density functional calculations Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-256636 VL - 27 IS - 16 ER -