Palladium and Platinum Complexes Containing Diphenyl‐2‐(3‐methyl)indolylphosphine

Syntheses and characterisation of group ten complexes containing the ligand diphenyl‐2‐(3‐methyl)indolylphosphine are presented herein. The complexes [ trans ‐PdCl 2 {PPh 2 (C 9 H 8 N)} 2 ] ( 1 ), [ cis ‐PtCl 2 {PPh 2 (C 9 H 8 N)} 2 ] ( 2 ), [ trans ‐Pd(CH 3 )Cl{PPh 2 (C 9 H 8 N)} 2 ] ( 3 ) and [ trans ‐Pt(CH 3 )Cl{PPh 2 (C 9 H 8 N)} 2 ] ( 4 ) have all been structurally characterized by X‐ray crystallography. In all cases, the ligands coordinate to the metal centres via the phosphorus donor atom (κ 1 ‐ P ) and the pendent NH groups on the indolyl rings of the ligand are orientated so that there is some degree of interaction with the metal–chloride bonds. The unexpected reactivity of 4 with Na[B{3,5‐C 6 H 3 (CF 3 ) 2 } 4 ] is also reported. In this case, the product resulting from this reaction was found to be [Pt{3,5‐C 6 H 3 (CF 3 ) 2 } 2 {PPh 2 (C 9 H 8 N)} 2 ].