An osmium(II) methane complex: Elucidation of the methane coordination mode

The activation of inert C-H bonds by transition metals is of considerable industrial and academic interest, but important gaps remain in our understanding of this reaction. We report the first experimental determination of the structure of the simplest hydrocarbon, methane, when bound as a ligand to a homogenous transition metal species. We find that methane binds to the metal center in this system through a single M H-C bridge; changes in the 1JCH coupling constants indicate clearly that the structure of the methane ligand is significantly perturbed relative to the free molecule. These results are relevant to the development of better C-H functionalization catalysts.