Conversion of ethyne into methylcarbene and ethene at a di-metal centre: X-ray structure of [Fe2(CO)2(µ-CO)(µ-CHMe)(η-C5H5)2]
Abstract
Protonation of the ethyne-derived dimetallocycles [M2(CO)(µ-CO){µ-η1,η3-C(O)C2H2}(η-C5H5)2](M = Fe or Ru) provides cationic vinyl complexes [M2(CO)2(µ-CO)(µ-CHCH2)(η-C5H5)2][BF4] which, with NaBH4, give bridging methylcarbene complexes [M2(CO)2(µ-CO)(µ-CHMe)(η-C5H5)2] and in the case of ruthenium an additional ethene complex [Ru2(CO)(µ-CO)2(C2H4)(η-C5H5)2]; the structure of cis-[Fe2(CO)2(µ-CO)(µ-CHMe)(η-C5H5)2] has been established by X-ray diffraction.