Pentafluorocyclopentadienyl ligand

In view of the ubiquity of the 5-cyclopentadienyl ligand in organometallic chemistry, and the reports in the literature of perchlorocyclopentadienyl analogues (56), it is both curious and unfortunate that attempts (85) to prepare complexes of the /5-pentafluorocyclopentadienyl ligand from the known C5F j anion (87,88) have failed. 

This successful synthesis of the pentafluorocyclopentadienyl ligand, albeit by an unorthodox route, demonstrates clearly that complexes of this ligand can be prepared, and that they are likely to be thermally stable, thus re-opening the synthetic challenge to develop suitable general syntheses of complexes of this ligand. 

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