CS 2 Reductive Coupling to Acetylenedithiolate by a Dinuclear Ytterbium(II) Complex

The activation of CS 2 is of interest in a broad range of fields and, more particularly, in the context of creating new C−C bonds. The reaction of the dinuclear ytterbium(II) complex [Yb 2 L 4 ], 1 , [L=(O t Bu) 3 SiO − ] with carbon disulfide led to the isolation of unprecedented reduction products. In particular, the crystallographic characterization of complex [Yb 2 L 4 (μ‐C 2 S 2 )], 2 , provided the first example of an acetylenedithiolate ligand formed from metal reduction of CS 2 . Computational studies indicated that this unprecedented reactivity can be ascribed to the unusual binding mode of CS 2 2− in the isolated “key intermediate” [Yb 2 L 4 (μ‐CS 2 )], 3 , which results from the dinuclear nature of 1 .