Metal→Carbon Dative Bonding.

As part of our interest in unusual bonding situations, we are now targeting complexes featuring metal→carbon dative bonds. Here, we report on the formation of such linkages in a series of Group 10 complexes featuring a triarylphosphine ligand functionalized at the γ position by a carbenium ion. Through combined synthetic, spectroscopic, and computational studies, we show that the M→C carbenium interaction present in these complexes scales with the basicity of the donor, confirming its dative nature.