Transcript All-Inorganic Metallocenes and Related Transition Metal Derivatives

All-Inorganic Metallocenes and Related Transition Metal Derivatives
of the Heavier Group 15 Elements
John E. Ellis, Department of Chemistry, University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Our recent synthesis of the all-phosphorus metallocene, [Ti(P5)2]2- involved the
reaction of white phosphorus, P4, with a naphthalenetitanate(2-), [Ti(C10H8)3]2-.
To determine whether all-inorganic metallocenes of group 5 metals are possible, a
new labile naphthaleneniobate, [Nb(C10H8)2(PMe3)2]- has been prepared (see
Sussman, V. J.; Ellis, J. E. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2008, 47, 484). As shown in the
Scheme above, this species functions as a source of atomic Nb- ion in its reaction
with 1,3-butadiene (and several other substances). Will it react with P4 to provide
an analogous species or a totally different complex?