Tantalum complexes with metallacycles

Green et al. observed that the tantalum complex 101 is converted into the bicyclic complex 109 after prolonged exposure to sodium and trimethyl-phosphine.930 Two phosphine ligands of 101 are easily displaced by butadiene, affording the complex 110, while treatment of 109 with dihydrogen leads to the reduction of the metallic center. In both cases, the metallacycle remains intact.930... 

Although there are few five-membered metallacycles reported for group 5, there are some examples of metallacyclopentane compounds for niobium and tantalum. The reaction of the labile vanadium naphthalene complex [CpV(Ci0H8)] with ethene provided the unusual binuclear complex [Cp2V2(p-C4H8)2] (34 [Eq. (13)], Fig. 9) in which the two vanadium centres are bridged by two butanediyl groups.38... 

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