The first solid phase synthesis of pincer palladium complexes.

Both dimeric mu-chlorine bridged and monomeric bidentate Pd(II) complexes with SCN hybrid pincer-type ligands, bearing thiophosphoryl group and imine moiety of the benzothiazole ring as coordination arms, formed in the reaction with (PhCN)(2)PdCl2 under kinetic control (20 degrees C, dichloromethane solution) were readily converted into the corresponding SCN pincer complexes via solid phase synthesis (neat, 200 degrees C, 15 min). The synthesis of pincer complexes can be performed also by heating (200 degrees C, 5 min) of a homogeneous mixture of the initial reactants, namely, the ligand and (PhCN)(2)PdCl2, obtained by manual grinding in a mortar. The efficacy of solid phase approaches is comparable with the analogous synthesis in solutions under severe conditions.