Reactions of boron and aluminum hydrides with other coordinated ligands

Herberich and Linn have reported that [W(H)(CHMeC02Me)(T 5-Cp)2] reacts with Li[AlH4] to give the olefin complex, [W(CH2CHMe)(il5-Cp)2]. Similar functional olefin complexes were reduced to produce the alkyl derivatives. 

The reaction of [Ni2((i-SR)2(Tl5-Cp)2l (R = alkyl) with Li[AlH4] has been reported to yield RH as the major organic product, together with traces of RSSR and a metal-containing fragment tentatively formulated as [Ni2(fi-S)2(Ti -Cp)2] - Studies by NMR spectroscopy suggest the involvement of a nickel-hydride intermediate in the reaction. 

The possible applications of boron and aluminum hydrides in preparative coordination chemistry are far from exhausted and there remains much to be done in investigations of reductive transformations of coordinated ligands. 

733 (b) N. N. Maltseva and V. S. Hain, Sodium Borohydride [in Russian] (Nauka, Moscow, 1985). 

Boranes in Organic Chemistry (Cornell Univ., 

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