Prospects for ²⁰⁷Pb solid-state NMR studies of lead tetrel bonds

The feasibility and value of ²⁰⁷Pb solid-state NMR experiments on compounds featuring lead tetrel bonds is explored. Although the definition remains to be formalized, lead tetrel bonds may be qualitatively described as existing when there is evidence of a net attractive interaction between an electrophilic region associated with lead in a molecular entity and a nucleophilic region in another, or the same, molecular entity. Unambiguous identification of lead tetrel bonds can be challenging due to the hypervalent tendency of lead. We report here a series of ²⁰⁷Pb solid-state NMR experiments on five metal-organic frameworks featuring lead coordinated to hydrazone-based ligands. Such frameworks may be held together in part by lead tetrel bonds. The acquisition of ²⁰⁷Pb solid-state NMR spectra for such materials is feasible and is readily accomplished using a combination of magic-angle spinning and Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill methods in moderate to low applied magnetic fields. The lead centres are characterized by ²⁰⁷Pb isotropic chemical shifts ranging from -426 to -2591 ppm and chemical shift tensor spans ranging from 910 to 2681 ppm. Careful inspection of the structures of the compounds and the literature ²⁰⁷Pb NMR data may suggest that a tetrel bond to lead results in chemical shift parameters which are intermediate between those which are characteristic of holodirected and hemidirected lead coordination geometries. Challenges associated with DFT computations of the ²⁰⁷Pb NMR parameters are discussed. In summary, the ²⁰⁷Pb data for the compounds studied herein show a marked response to the presence of non-coordinating electron-rich moieties in close contact with the electrophilic surface of formally hemidirectionally coordinated lead compounds.