Controlled Ring Opening of a Tetracyclic Tetraphosphane with Twofold Metallocene Bridging.

A direct route to a doubly ferrocene bridged tetracyclic tetraphosphane 1 was developed via reductive coupling of Fe(CpPCl2)2 (2 a), where a chlorine terminated linear P4-compound 3 could be identified as an intermediate. Selective P-P bond activation was further achieved by reacting 1 with elemental selenium or [Cp*Al]4, where regioselective insertion of Se or Al atoms resulted in ferrocenylene bridged [P4Se] (4) or [P4Al] (7) moieties. Compound 7 can be transformed to a hydrogen terminated linear P4 species, 8, with protic solvents. Methylation of compound 1 with MeOTf, proceeds via intermediate formation of monomethylated species 5, which gradually produced Me2-terminated dicationic 6, again containing a linear P4-unit. Besides spectroscopic characterization, the structural details of compounds 1, 4, 6, and 8 could be determined by SC-XRD. Moreover, DFT calculations were used to rationalize the reactivity of 1, derived compounds and intermediates. As a key feature, 1 undergoes ring opening polymerization to a linear polyphosphane 9.

3D Micro/Nanopatterning of a Vinylferrocene Copolymer.

In nanoimprint lithography (NIL), a pattern is created by mechanical deformation of an imprint resist via embossing with a stamp, where the adhesion behavior during the filling of the imprint stamp and its subsequent detachment may impose some practical challenges. Here we explored thermal and reverse NIL patterning of polyvinylferrocene and vinylferrocene-methyl methacrylate copolymers to prepare complex non-spherical objects and patterns. While neat polyvinylferrocene was found to be unsuitable for NIL, freshly-prepared vinylferrocene-methyl methacrylate copolymers, for which identity and purity were established, have been structured into 3D-micro/nano-patterns using NIL. The cross-, square-, and circle-shaped columnar structures form a 3 × 3 mm arrangement with periodicity of 3 µm, 1 µm, 542 nm, and 506 nm. According to our findings, vinylferrocene-methyl methacrylate copolymers can be imprinted without further additives in NIL processes, which opens the way for redox-responsive 3D-nano/micro-objects and patterns via NIL to be explored in the future.

Bulky 1,1'-bisphosphanoferrocenes and their coordination behaviour towards Cu(i).

Two bulky mesityl substituted dppf-analogues Fe(C5H4PMes2)2 (Mes = 2,4,6-Me3C6H2, 1) and Fe(C5H4PMes2)(C5H4PPh2) (Mes = 2,4,6-Me3C6H2, Ph = C6H5, 3) have been prepared and their properties as donor ligands have been explored using heteronuclear NMR spectroscopy and in particular via1JP-Se coupling, cyclic voltammetry and DFT calculations. Based on the results obtained, a series of mono- and dinuclear Cu(i) complexes have been prepared with these new diphosphane ligands using Br-, I-, and BF4- as counter anions. For the very bulky ligand 1 rare and unprecedented double bridging complexation modes have been observed containing two non-planar Cu2Br2 units, while for the other dinuclear complexes planar Cu2Br2 units have been found. The Cu(i) complexes of 1 and 3 were then used as catalysts for CO2-fixation reaction with terminal alkynes, and complexes with ligand 3 were found to be more efficient than those with 1. DFT calculations performed on compounds 1, 3 and their Cu(i) complexes were able to verify the trend of these catalytic reactions.

Regioselective Insertion of Aluminum(I) in the cyclo-P5 Ring of Pentaphosphaferrocene.

A route to directly access mixed Al-Fe polyphosphide complexes was developed. The reactivity of pentaphosphaferrocene, [Cp*Fe(η5 -P5 )] (Cp*=C5 Me5 ), with two different low-valent aluminum compounds was investigated. The steric and electronic environment around the [AlI ] centre are found to be crucial for the formation of the resulting Al-Fe polyphosphides. Reaction with the sterically demanding [Dipp-BDIAlI ] (Dipp-BDI={[2,6-i Pr2 C6 H3 NCMe]2 CH}- ) resulted in the first Al-based neutral triple-decker type polyphosphide complex. For [(Cp*AlI )4 ], an unprecedented regioselective insertion of three [Cp*AlIII ]2+ moieties into two adjacent P-P bonds of the cyclo-P5 ring of [Cp*Fe(η5 -P5 )] was observed. The regioselectivity of the insertion reaction could be rationalized by isolating an analogue of the reaction intermediate stabilized by a strong σ-donor carbene.

Strained azabora[2]ferrocenophanes.

Three [2]ferrocenophanes equipped with unsaturated BN moieties at bridging positions were synthesized and structurally characterized. As revealed by DFT calculations, these first examples of azabora[2]ferrocenophanes are similarly strained to the well-known Me2Si-bridged [1]ferrocenophane.

[n]Ferrocenophanes (n = 2, 3) with Nitrogen and Phosphorus in Bridging Positions.

The in situ prepared dilithio derivative of the known species 1-bromo-1'-(trimethylsilylamino)ferrocene (1) reacted with tBuPCl2 to form the first example of a [2]ferrocenophane ([2]FCP) bridged by nitrogen and phosphorus (2). Sulfurization of 2 followed by column chromatography on silica gel gave the expected [2]FCP with a tBu(S)PN(SiMe3) bridging moiety (3a) and its desilylated counterpart with a tBu(S)PNH bridging moiety (3b). The molecular structure of 3b was determined by single-crystal X-ray analysis (α = 18.40(11)°). Using a common synthetic methodology, two new 1-amino-1'-bromoferrocene derivatives were prepared, one species with a PhCH2 (6a) and another with a tBuCH2 group (6b) on nitrogen. Dilithiation of 6a followed by addition of tBuPCl2 gave a mixture of three constitutional isomers: the targeted [2]FCP (7a), the 1,1'-disubstituted ferrocene derivative (tBuPH)(PhCH═N)fc (8a), and the [3]FCP bridged by a (NH)(CHPh)PtBu moiety (9a). NMR spectroscopy revealed that 8a is the precursor for 9a. The salt-metathesis reaction of the dilithio derivative of 6b with tBuPCl2 exclusively gave the 1,1'-disubstituted ferrocene derivative (tBuPH)(tBuCH═N)fc (8b), which does not isomerize to the respective [3]FCP. DFT calculations at the M06/6-311+G(d,p) level were used to better rationalize these unexpected results.

Cyclic and linear polyferrocenes with silicon and tin as alternating bridges.

The synthesis and characterization of ferrocene-based oligomers that contained two different elements (Si and Sn) as alternating bridges is described for the first time. The salt-metathesis reaction of R(2) Si[(C(5) H(4) )Fe(C(5) H(4) Li)](2) (R=Me, Et) with R'(2) SnCl(2) (R'=Me, nBu, tBu) afforded a mixture of oligomers (6(Me) SnMe(2), 6(Et) SnMe(2), 6(Me) SnnBu(2), 6(Et) SnnBu(2), 6(Me) SntBu(2), and 6(Et) SntBu(2)). These oligomers were characterized by (1) H, (13) C, (29) Si, and (119) Sn NMR spectroscopy and by mass spectrometry. MS (MALDI-TOF) studies of 6(Et) SnMe(2) revealed the presence of linear (l) and cyclic (c) species that contained up to 20 ferrocene moieties. The molecular weights of the polymers were determined by gel-permeation chromatography (GPC) and by dynamic-light scattering (DLS). GPC analysis revealed average molecular weights of 2100-6300 Da with respect to polystyrene as a standard. DLS analysis yielded very similar results. Some compounds, c-(6(Me) SnMe(2) )(1), c-(6(Me) SntBu(2))(2), c-(6(Et) SnMe(2))(1), c-(6(Et) SntBu(2))(2), l-(6(Me) SnnBu(2) )(2), and l-(6(Me) SnnBu(2))(3), which contained up to six ferrocene moieties, were isolated in their pure form either by column chromatography or by crystallization. The Si- and Sn-bridged macrocycles that contained four ferrocene units (c-(6(Me) SntBu(2))(2) and c-(6(Et) SntBu(2))(2)) were structurally characterized by single-crystal X-ray analysis.