Acyclic tetrachalcogenoether ligands tethered with bulky substituents: Their syntheses and coordination chemistry

New o-phenylene-bridged tetrachalcogenoether ligands tethered with an extremely bulky substituent, 2,4,6-tris[bis(trimethylsilyl)methyl]phenyl (Tbt) group, [TbtE(o-phenylene)Se]2(o-phenylene) (3: E = S, 4: E = Se), were synthesized. Complexation reactions of 3 and 4 with Na2PdCl4 gave the corresponding dichloropalladium(II) complexes 7 and 8. X-ray structural analysis of 7 and 8 indicated that the central palladium metals are in a distorted octahedral environment, where the two inner selenium atoms and the two chlorine atoms form a square planar arrangement around the palladium metal and the two terminal chalcogen atoms weakly coordinate to the palladium center at the axial positions. The AIM calculations also supported the existence of the interaction between the palladium and the terminal chalcogen atoms in the crystalline state. On the other hand, the 77Se NMR spectra suggested that there are no or very weak interactions between the palladium and the terminal chalcogen atoms in solution. The UV/Vis spectra of 7, 8, and related compounds imply the possibility of weak interaction between the terminal selenium atoms and the palladium center in solution.