Abstract
A series of linear trinuclear selenolate complexes of the general type [(OC) 3 Fe(μ-SePh)jM(μ-SePh) 3 Fe(CO) 3 ] (M = Zn 11 1. Cd 11 2, Ni 11 3 or Fe 11 4) has been synthesized by reaction of the appropriate [M(H 2 O) n ] 2+ with the chelating metalloligand fac-[N(PPh 3 ) 2 ][Fe(CO) 3 (SePh) 3 ] in acetonitrile. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of IR, UV/VIS, NMR spectra and X-ray crystallography. Compounds 1-4 are structurally related, each containing two tridentate metalloligands resulting in a MSe 6 co-ordination environment of virtual O h symmetry. Further reaction of 4 with 3 equivalents of 1, 10-phenanthroline (phen) initially afforded the intermediate [Fe(phen) 3 ][Fe(CO) 3 (SePh) 3 ] 2 but eventually neutral [Fe(CO) 2 (phen)(SePh) 2 ] 5 was formed as the sole product. Its crystal structure has been determined. This investigation shows thatyac-[Fe(CO) 3 (SePh) 3 ] - serves as a tridentate chelating metalloligand and selenolate ligand-transfer reagent.