The reactivity of 1,1-dichloro-2,2-di-tert-butyldiphosphane towards lithiated metal carbonyls: a new entry to phosphanylphosphinidene dimers.

Reactions of [Cp*(OC)3M]Li (Cp* = C5Me5, M = Mo, W) towards t-Bu2P-PCl2 lead to the formation of phosphanylphosphinidene dimers [Cp*(OC)3M(η(2)-t-Bu2P-P)]2 in fairly good yields. The formation of a tetraphosphorus ligand proceeds via reductive dimerization of t-Bu2P-P units. NMR, X-ray investigations and DFT calculations show that the resulting tetraphosphorus ligand has a structure of dication t-Bu2P(+)=P-P=P(+)t-Bu2.

Bis(diethyl-amido-κN)(diethyl-amine-κN)bis-(2,6-diisopropyl-phenyl-amido-κN)zirconium(IV).

In the title compound, [Zr(C(12)H(18)N)(2)(C(4)H(10)N)(2)(C(4)H(11)N)] or [Zr(HNC(6)H(3) (i)Pr(2))(2)(NEt(2))(2)(HNEt(2))], which was obtained by the reaction of Zr(NEt)(4) with (i)Pr(2)C(6)H(3)NH(2), the Zr(IV) atom is in a trigonal-bipiramidal geometry in which the N atoms from two (i)Pr(2)C(6)H(3)NH and one NEt(2) ligand occupy the equatorial positions, and the N atoms of an NEt(2) and an Et(2)NH ligand occupy the apical positions. An intra-molecular N-H⋯N contact occurs. There are two independent molecules in the asymmetric unit.