The reactions of RhCl(PBz3)3 with H2 and pyridine or 4-methylpyridine yield RhCl(H)2(PBz3)2(py) and RhCl(H)2(PBz3)2(4-Me-py), respectively. These species undergo hydride site exchange via the loss of the pyridyl donor and formation of RhCl(H)2(PBz3)2 which contains equivalent hydride ligands; for the py system the activation free energy, ΔG‡300, is 57.4 ± 0.1 kJ mol−1 while for 4-Me-py the value is 59.6 ± 0.3 kJ mol−1. These products only showed parahydrogen enhancement in the corresponding hydride resonances when a sacrificial substrate was added to promote hydrogen cycling. When RhCl(PPh3)3 was used as the precursor similar observations were made, while when RhCl(PCy3)2(C2H4) was examined, H2 addition led to the formation of the binuclear complex (H)2Rh(PCy3)2(μ-Cl)2Rh(H)2(PCy3)2 which was differentiated from RhCl(H)2(PCy3)2 on the basis of the similarity in diffusion coefficient (5.5 × 10−9 m2 s−1) to that of (H)2Rh(PPh3)2(μ-Cl)2Rh(PPh3)2 (5.3 × 10−9 m2 s−1). The detection of RhCl(H)2(PCy3)2(py) was facilitated when pyridine was added to a solution of RhCl(PCy3)2(C2H4) before the introduction of H2. During these reactions trace amounts of the double substitution products, RhCl(H)2(phosphine)(py)2, were also detected.
