Octahedral chromium(III) complexes in dipolar aprotic solvents. I. The isomerization of cis- and trans-Dichlorobisethylenediamine-chromium (III) ions in anhydrous NN-dimethylformamide
The kinetics and mechanism of the isomerization of cis- and trans- dichloro- bisethylenediaminechromium(III) ions, cis- and trans-[CrCl2 en2]+, have been investigated in anhydrous NN-dimethylformamide (DNF). The complex cis- chlorodimethylformamidebisethylenediaminechromium- (III), cis-[CrCl(DMF) en2]2+, is found to be a necessary intermediate and to remain a significant part of the system at equilibrium. The equilibria are found to depend on the concentration of free chloride ion as has been found in the comparable cobalt system.��� Activation parameters have been determined for isomerization reactions using both the cis- and trans-(CrCl2 en2)+ ions as starting materials and for the chloride entry reaction into the cis-[CrCl(DMF) en2]2+ ion which has been isolated as cis-[CrCl(DMF) en2](ClO4)2,R2O.