Bulky cyclopentadienyl metal complexes

III. Synthetic Methods for Bulky Cyclopentadienyl Metal Complexes.. .. 310... 

The scope of the present paper is limited to those cyclopentadienyl ligands that contain more than two bulky substituents and transition metal complexes derived thereof in order to be able to focus on the specific effects of these ligand systems. A selection of some mono-substituted cyclopentadienyl ligands will be treated also. Among the numerous reviews highlighting special aspects of cyclopentadienyl... 

In both the examples given above, there is concomitant loss of one or more neutral ligands. Elimination of CO is the rule in reactions of mononuclear metal carbonyls (e.g., entry 12) and cyclopentadienyl metal carbonyls (e.g., entry 4), but not those of polynuclear carbonyls (e.g., entry 16) or carbonyl halides (e.g., entry 33). Elimination of tertiary phosphines often occurs, especially when more than two molecules are present in the initial complex however, this is not always the case (see entry 24). Clearly, steric requirements and the dictates of the 18-electron rule determine the composition of the product, and normally act in concert when they conflict, as in the case of R3SiRuH3(PR3) (n = 2 or 3 entry 22), variable stoichiometry may result. Chelating diphosphines, with somewhat reduced steric requirements, are usually retained (e.g., entry 19), while complexed olefins are invariably lost the bulky ligand P(cyclohexyl)3 is associated with unusual products (entries 47 and 48). Particular mention may be made of the 17-electron species Cl3SiVH(Cp)2 and (Cl3Si)2V(Cp)2 shown... 

Tris(cyclopentadienyl)lanthanide complexes with steri-cally more crowded Cp ligands such as C5Me4R (R = Me, Et, Tr, and SiMe3) are not assessable by simple metathesis between lanthanide trihalides and the respective alkali metal salt of the bulky Cp ligand. For instance, Cp 3Sm, obtainable from Cp 2Sm and cyclooctatetraene, reacts with THF with ring-opening forming Cp 2Sm[0(CH2)4Cp ](THF) (equation 14). 

For a bulky substituted cyclopentadienyl group, such as CsMes and CsMeaR (R = Et, Pr, SiMes), tris(cyclopentadienyl) lanthanide complexes cannot be prepared via the above metathesis reaction because of the steric hindrance. The reaction of anhydrous LnCls with three equivalents of alkali metal pentamethylcyclopentadienyl in THF (tetrahydrofuran) led to the THF ring-opened product (Equation 8.4) [8]. 

We have found that the late metal congeners of this important compound class are easily synthesized and can be derivatized to yield aryl monocyclo-octatetraene lanthanide complexes if the metal is small (Er—Lu) and the ligand bulky and chelating. The synthesis of these compounds clears the way for comparative reactivity studies (with cyclopentadienyl lanthanide complexes) and allows investigations of fundamental chemical reactivity to be conducted for this ligand system. 

The different transition metals for the syndiospecific polymerization of styrene were summarized. Compounds of titanium with one cyclopentadienyl ligand show a high performance for the SPS production. Transition metals are stabilized by cyclopentadienyl ligands with electron-releasing substituents, and bulky substituents decrease the catalytic activities. o-Bonded groups at the transition metal complex are substituted by other groups by MAO or TIBA and showed comparable catalytic activities in the syndiospecific styrene polymerization [31]. 

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