Yatimah Alias, Marie-Laurence Abasq, Frédéric Barrière, Sian C. Davies, Shirley A. Fairhurst, David L. Hughes, Saad K. Ibrahim, Christopher J. Pickett, Marie-Laurence Abasq, Frédéric Barrière, Shirley A. Fairhurst and Jean Talarmin
Electrochemical dehydrodimerisation of an {Mo–NCHCH
CH2} group gives an all-trans-{
N+CH
CHCH
CHCH
CHN+
} ligand, bridging two MoIV centres; the {(MoIII)–bridge–(MoIV)} mixed-valence state is accessible by electrochemical reduction and exhibits very strong electronic coupling over the 11.7 Å which separates the two metal centres; this accords with EHMO calculations which show that the SOMO has substantial (30%) bridging-ligand character; in its capacity to function as a molecular wire linking two metal centres, the eight-atom hexatriene di(imide) chain {N(CH)6N} compares favourably with C8 chains of acetylenic carbons bridging other metal centres.