Heterometallic Triply-Bridging Bis-Borylene Complexes.

Triply-bridging bis-{hydrido(borylene)} and bis-borylene species of groups 6, 8 and 9 transition metals are reported. Mild thermolysis of [Fe2 (CO)9 ] with an in situ produced intermediate, generated from the low-temperature reaction of [Cp*WCl4 ] (Cp*=η5 -C5 Me5 ) and [LiBH4 ⋅THF] afforded triply-bridging bis-{hydrido(borylene)}, [(µ3 -BH)2 H2 {Cp*W(CO)2 }2 {Fe(CO)2 }] (1) and bis-borylene, [(µ3 -BH)2 {Cp*W(CO)2 }2 {Fe(CO)3 }] (2). The chemical bonding analyses of 1 show that the B-H interactions in bis-{hydrido (borylene)} species is stronger as compared to the M-H ones. Frontier molecular orbital analysis shows a significantly larger energy gap between the HOMO-LUMO for 2 as compared to 1. In an attempt to synthesize the ruthenium analogue of 1, a similar reaction has been performed with [Ru3 (CO)12 ]. Although we failed to get the bis-{hydrido(borylene)} species, the reaction afforded triply-bridging bis-borylene species [(µ3 -BH)2 {WCp*(CO)2 }2 {Ru(CO)3 }] (2'), an analogue of 2. In search for the isolation of bridging bis-borylene species of Rh, we have treated [Co2 (CO)8 ] with nido-[(RhCp*)2 (B3 H7 )], which afforded triply-bridging bis-borylene species [(µ3 -BH)2 (RhCp*)2 Co2 (CO)4 (µ-CO)] (3). All the compounds have been characterized by means of single-crystal X-ray diffraction study; 1 H, 11 B, 13 C NMR spectroscopy; IR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry.