Boron complexes, cationic with pyridine

Quite in contrast to, e.g., [CoCp2]+, borabenzene metal cations show a pronounced affinity toward hard nucleophiles such as amines, OH-, and to some extent even F- and H20. Qualitatively this affinity increases in the order CoCp2]+ 36 < 1 < 61 (69). [CoCp(C5H5BPh)]+ (1) adds tertiary amines at boron. With pyridine, the pyridinioboratacyclohexadienyl complex 70 is formed (K = 174 5 liters mol-1, in MeCN, 20°C), which can be isolated from CH2C12 as PF6- salt (69). The similar rhodium and iridium cations 36 and 37 form the stable cyanide adducts 71 and 72 (69). 

If cyclopentadienyliron dicarbonyl halides are allowed to react with themselves in the presence of Lewis acids, cations are formed in which the new substituent is the cyclopentadienyliron dicarbonyl halide itself, for example, [CjH6Fe(CO)i-X-(CO)2-FeC8H8]+ (X = Cl, Br, I). All three cations can be prepared best by treatment of the corresponding halides with boron trifluoride diethyl etherate all are isolated as tetrafluoro-borates.18 The bromine complex can also be obtained by a more complicated procedure by the reaction between C8H8Fe-(CO)2Br and AlBr3 in liquid sulfur dioxide 16 the iodine cation can be isolated from a melt of cyclopentadienyliron dicarbonyl iodide and aluminum chloride.17 In the latter two cases the hexafluorophosphate salts can be obtained. These binuclear cations are of special interest, because they are cleaved by electron donors,16-17 e.g., aniline, pyridine, benzonitrile, acetonitrile, acrylonitrile, with the formation of the corresponding [C8H8Fe(CO)2L]+ cations and the parent halide. Equations for preparation of the tetrafluoroborate are ... 

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