Tetrahedral nickel nitrosyl complexes with tripodal [N3] and [Se3] donor ancillary ligands: structural and computational evidence that a linear nitrosyl is a trivalent ligand.

Linear nickel nitrosyl compounds supported by tridentate nitrogen and selenium ligands, namely the tris(3,5-dimethylpyrazolyl)hydroborato and tris(2-seleno-1-mesitylimidazolyl)hydroborato complexes, [TpMe2]NiNO and [TseMes]NiNO, have been synthesized and structurally characterized by X-ray diffraction. Computational studies demonstrate that the linear nitrosyl ligand behaves as a trivalent X3 ligand such that the Ni-N interaction has multiple bond character.