Formation of Metal-coordinated Doubly Chelating Pentadentate Ligands by the Reactions of [MoH4(Ph2PCH2CH2PPh2)2] with Organohydrodisilanes

Thermal reaction of [MoH4(dppe)2] (dppe = Ph2PCH2CH2PPh2) with RR′HSiSiHRR′ (R = Ph, Me, t-Bu; R′ = Me, H) occurs with formation of molybdenum silyl complexes, [MoH3{Si(R)[Ph2PCH2CH2P(Ph)C6H4-o]2}], as a result of oxidative addition involving Si–H bond cleavage with concomitant selective activation of the ortho C–H bonds of the two dppe ligands.