An efficient route to pentasubstituted acylferrocenes.

A number of pentasubstituted acylferrocenes were selectively prepared from ferrous chloride, sodium acylcyclopentadienides, and the corresponding pentasubstituted lithium cyclopentadienides in good yields. The selectivity is governed by the different steric and electronic properties of the acylcyclopentadienides vs the pentasubstituted cyclopentadienides.