Carbon compounds of the transition metals. Part XXV. Crystal and molecular structure of acetatobis(phenylazophenyl-2C,N′)rhodium(II)

Abstract

The crystal structure of the title compound (I) shows rhodium co-ordinated octahedrally by the acetate and two azobenzene ligands. This is the first direct confirmation that azobenzene chelates by means of σ-bonds at an ortho-carbon and the lone pair of the further nitrogen, forming a five-membered chelate ring. The crystals are monoclinic with space group Cc, and have a= 8·847(4), b= 16·760(8), c= 15·710(8)Å, and β= 96·14(3)°. The structure was solved by Patterson and Fourier methods from diffractometer data, and refined by least-squares techniques to R 5·0% for 2318 unique reflections.