Octahedral clusters tantalum

For Nb or Ta clusters MgLig units are formed when the ligands are Cl or Br for niobium, and Cl, Br or I for the tantalum. In contrast, the niobium iodides have the MeLi4 unit, owing to the important steric effect of the iodine, as discussed later. Such MeLis units can also be prepared from valence-electron-poor transition metals such as zirconium, but in this case an interstitial element located at the center of the octahedral cluster is necessary to stabilize the cluster. ... 

The octahedral metal clusters that have long been familiar features of the lower halide chemistry of niobium, tantalum, molybdenum, and tungsten represent a category of cluster different from those so far considered in that their metal-metal bonding is best treated as involving four AO s on each metal 49, 133,144,165,178). 

Some mixed octahedral metal cluster units of the type MnM 5 Xi2 have been prepared (288). Coreduction of mixtures of the pentachlorides of tantalum and molybdenum with aluminum metal in a fused mixture of... 

---