Metal and Ligand K-Edge XAS of Organotitanium Complexes: Metal 4p and 3d Contributions to Pre-edge Intensity and Their Contributions to Bonding

Abstract

Titanium cyclopentadienyl (Cp) complexes play important roles as homogeneous polymerization catalysts and have recently received attention as potential anticancer agents. To systematically probe the contribution of the Cp to bonding in organotitanium complexes, Ti K-edge XAS has been applied to TiCl₄ and then to the mono- and bis-Cp complexes, TiCpCl₃ and TiCp₂Cl₂. Ti K-edge XAS is used as a direct probe of metal 3d−4p mixing and provides insight into the contribution of the Cp to bonding. These data are complimented by Cl K-edge XAS data, which provide a direct probe of the effect of the Cp on the bonding to the spectator chloride ligand. The experimental results are correlated to DFT calculations. A model for metal 3d−4p mixing is proposed, which is based on covalent interactions with the ligands and demonstrates that metal K-pre-edge intensities may be used as a measure of ligand−metal covalency in molecular Ti(IV) systems in noncentrosymmetric environments.