Synthesis and Structure of Half-Sandwich Zincocenes

Abstract

Half-sandwich zinc complexes (η5-C5Me5)ZnR have been prepared for R= Me, 2; Et, 3; Mes, 4 and Ph, 5, by the conproportionation reaction of Zn(C5Me5)2 and the corresponding ZnR2 reagent. The new compounds have been fully characterized by spectroscopy and in the cases of 2 and 4 by X-ray crystallography. Since the reaction of Zn(C5Me5)2 and ZnEt2 yields 3, together with the known dizincocene Zn2(η5-C5Me5)2, the rearrangements of the related zincocenes ZnCp2′ and ZnEt2 were investigated, with the result that only the half-sandwich (η5-Cp′)ZnEt derivatives (Cp′= C5Me4SiMe3 (6); C5Me4CMe3 (7) and C5Me4H (8)) were produced.