Organomercury Compounds VII. Complexes of Arylmercuric Halides with Bidentate Ligands

The complexes, C6F5HgXL, [X = Br or C1; L, = 2,2'-bipyridyl (bipy), 1,lO-phenanthroline (phen), 3,4,7,8-tetramethyl-1,lO-phenanthroline(tmp), or 2,9- dimethyl-1,lO-phenanthroline(dmp)], C6Cl5HgClL, (L, = phen, tmp, or dmp), and PhHgClL, (L, = phen or tmp), have been prepared, but attempts to prepare PhHgClbipy or complexes of phenylmercuric bromide were unsuccessful. Evidence that the complexes contain four-coordinate mercury has been obtained from infrared spectroscopy. A11 complexes, except C6Cl5HgClphen, C6Cl5HgC1dmp, and PhHgCltmp, undergo complete or partial disproportionation reactions, 2RHgXL2 = L2HgX2 + R2HgL2 (or R2Hg + L2), in boiling benzene. Although disproportionation or low solubility precludes solution studies on the majority of the derivatives, it has been shown that C6F5HgXdmp complexes are monomeric in acetone and that PhHgClphen undergoes dissociation, PhHgClphen + PhHgCl + phen, in this solvent.