Formation of a cyclooctatetraenylsamarium(III) inverse sandwich that ring-opens tetrahydrofuran.

ABSTRACT

Reductive trapping of the cyclooctatetraenyl dianion (COT2-) by treatment of [Sm(DippForm)2(thf)2] (DippFormH = N,N'-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)formamidine; thf = tetrahydrofuran) with 1,3,5,7-cyclooctatetraene (C8H8) in toluene yields an inverse sandwich dinuclear complex [Sm2(DippForm)4(COT)] (1), but [Sm(DippForm)(COT)(thf)2] (2) and [Sm(DippForm)2(O-C4H8-DippForm)(thf)] (3) in thf, and 1 yields 2 and 3 on treatment with thf.