Complexation of oxygen ligands with dimeric rhodium(II) tetrakistrifluoroacetate in chloroform: 1H, 13C NMR and DFT studies

The complexation of dimeric rhodium(II) tetrakistrifluoroacetylate with 25 ligands containing oxygen atoms: alcohols, ethers, ketones, aldehydes, carboxylic acids and esters in chloroform solution have been investigated by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy and Density Functional Theory (DFT) methods. Investigated ligands form 1:1 adducts in our experimental conditions, with stability constants in the order of several hundred mol−1. The exchange of ligands in solution is fast on the NMR spectroscopic timescale. The decrease of longitudinal relaxation times T1 in ligands in the presence of rhodium salt has been tested as the means of determination of the complexation site in ligands. The influence of complexation on chemical shifts in ligands was evaluated by a parameter complexation shift Δδ (Δδ = δadd − δlig). These parameters were positive (>0 ppm) and did not exceed 1 ppm for 1H NMR; and varied from ca. −5 to +15 ppm in the case of 13C NMR. The calculation by DFT methods using the B3LYP functional (structure optimization, electronic energy) and B3PW91 functional (shielding), and combinations of the (6-31G(2d), 6-311G++(2d,p), and LANL2DZ basis sets, followed by scaling procedures reproduced satisfactorily 1H and 13C chemical shifts and, with some limitations, allowed to estimate Δδ parameters.