Photodriven Elimination of Chlorine From Germanium and Platinum in a Dinuclear Pt →Ge Complex.

Searching for a connection between the two-electron redox behavior of Group-14 elements and their possible use as platforms for the photoreductive elimination of chlorine, we have studied the photochemistry of [(o-(Ph P)C H ) Ge Cl ]Pt Cl and [(o-(Ph P)C H ) ClGe ]Pt Cl , two newly isolated isomeric complexes. These studies show that, in the presence of a chlorine trap, both isomers convert cleanly into the platinum germyl complex [(o-(Ph P)C H ) ClGe ]Pt Cl with quantum yields of 1.7 % and 3.2 % for the Ge -Pt and Ge -Pt isomers, respectively. Conversion of the Ge -Pt isomer into the platinum germyl complex is a rare example of a light-induced transition-metal/main-group-element bond-forming process. Finally, transient-absorption-spectroscopy studies carried out on the Ge -Pt isomer point to a ligand arene-Cl charge-transfer complex as an intermediate.