A Bridge between Organic and Inorganic Chemistries

Just as two methyl radicals combine to form ethane (H3C-CH3), two Mn(CO)5 radicals form the Mn-Mn single bond in Mn2(CO)io (see chapter 7). When Mn2(CO)io is chemically reduced, the anion Mn(CO)5 reacts with CH3I to form the stable mixed compound CH3-Mn(CO)5 analogous to reaction of CH3 with CH3I to form ethane. The CH2 firagment is a carbene and is isolobal with Fe(CO)4. The corresponding dimer H2C=CH2 is well known, although (CO)4Fe=Fe(CO)4 is not very stable and has been observed only at very low temperature. Mixed compounds, such as H2C=Fe(CO)4, are metallocarbenes (see chapter 7) known to play vital roles in olefin metathesis (see the later section in this chapter). 

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Desiraju, G.R. The supramolecular concept as a bridge between organic, inorganic and organometallic crystal chemistry. J Mol Structure 1996, 374 191-198. 

The potential of a unified treatment of organic and inorganic systems has been expressed eloquently in Roald Hoffmann s Nobel lecture [107] entitled Building Bridges between Inorganic and Organic Chemistry. ... 

Historically, the first chemical synthesis of urea by Wohler, from ammonium cyanate in 1828, was a milestone that established a bridge between inorganic and organic chemistry. Urease was the first enzyme ever to be crystallized (6), and it was the first protein shown to contain nickel ions in the active site (7). The first X-ray crystal structure of urease became known in 1995 (8). Significant progress was made since then toward an understanding of its catalytic mechanism, as well as toward the structural and functional emulation of its active site by synthetic model complexes (5, 9). 

This reaction, together with those in Figure 5.7, creates a bridge between inorganic and organic chemistry. 

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