Lanthanide hydroxide cubane clusters anchoring ferrocenes: model compounds for fixation of organometallic fragments on a lanthanide oxide surface†
Abstract
The reaction of the lanthanide trichloride hexahydrates [LnCl3·6H2O] (Ln = Yb, Lu) with two equivalents of benzoylferrocenoylmethane resulted in the tetranuclear lanthanide hydroxo clusters [Ln4(μ3-OH)4(FcacacPh)8] (Ln = Yb (1), Lu (2); FcacacPh = benzoylferrocenoylmethanide). Compounds 1 and 2 are made up of a distorted tetranuclear lanthanide Ln4O4 cubane core consisting of four μ3-oxygen atoms while the eight FcacacPh