Influence of the Homopolar Dihydrogen Bonding C-H⋅⋅⋅H-C on Coordination Geometry: Experimental and Theoretical Studies

The reaction of the N-thiophosphorylated thiourea (HOCH2 )(Me)2 CNHC(S)NHP(S)(OiPr)2 (HL), deprotonated by the thiophosphorylamide group, with NiCl2 leads to green needles of the pseudotetrahedral complex [Ni(L-1,5-S,S')2 ]⋅0.5 (n-C6 H14 ) or pale green blocks of the trans square-planar complex trans-[Ni(L-1,5-S,S')2 ]. The former complex is stabilized by homopolar dihydrogen C-H⋅⋅⋅H-C interactions formed by n-hexane solvent molecules with the [Ni(L-1,5-S,S')2 ] unit. Furthermore, the dispersion-dominated C-H⋅⋅⋅ H-C interactions are, together with other noncovalent interactions (C-H⋅⋅⋅N, C-H⋅⋅⋅Ni, C-H⋅⋅⋅S), responsible for pseudotetrahedral coordination around the Ni(II) center in [Ni(L-1,5-S,S')2 ]⋅0.5 (n-C6 H14 ).