Assembly of a Dihydrideborate and Two Aryl Nitriles to Form a C,N,N′-Pincer Ligand Coordinated to Osmium

[Image: see text] The C,N,N′-donor aryl-diimineborate pincer ligand of the complexes OsH(2){κ(3)-C,N,N-[C(6)H(3)RCH=NB(cat)N=CHC(6)H(4)R]}(P(i)Pr(3))(2) (R = H, Me) has been generated in a one-pot procedure, by the reaction of the hexahydride OsH(6)(P(i)Pr(3))(2) with catecholborane (catBH) and two molecules of the corresponding aryl nitrile. The osmium–pincer bonding situation has been analyzed by means of atoms in molecules (AIM), natural bond orbital (NBO), and energy decomposition analysis coupled with the natural orbitals for chemical valence (EDA-NOCV) methods. According to the results, the complexes exhibit a rather strong electron-sharing Os–C bond, two weaker donor–acceptor N–Os bonds, and two π-back-donations from the transition metal to vacant π* orbitals of the formed metallacycles. In addition, spectroscopic findings and DFT calculations reveal that the donor units of the pincer are incorporated in a sequential manner. First, the central Os–N bond is formed, by the reaction of the dihydrideborate ligand of the intermediate OsH(3){κ(2)-H,H-(H(2)Bcat)}(P(i)Pr(3))(2) with one of the aryl nitriles. The subsequent oxidative addition of the o-C–H bond of the aryl substituent of the resulting κ(1)-N-(N-boryl-arylaldimine) affords the Os–C bond. Finally, the second Os–N bond is generated from a hydride, an ortho-metalated N-boryl-arylaldimine, and the second aryl nitrile.