Control over the dimerisation of cyclo-octatetraene through metal complexation: X-ray structure of [Mo(CO)4(C16H16)]
Abstract
Cyclo-octatetraene reacts with [Mo(CO)6] in boiling octane to produce [Mo(CO)4(C16H16)], shown by X-ray diffraction to contain a new dimer of the hydrocarbon arising formally from a combination of [2 + 2]π and [2 + 4]π cycloaddition; the dimer is released as a stable species upon treatment of the complex with Me3NO.