| SYNTHESIS |
There are metallocenes and there are metallacycles. Now there's a triple-decker complex that incorporates them both. Author has prepared a ruthenium complex (shown) that is the first known triple-decker molecule to contain a central metallabenzene ligand. Some 20 years ago, benzene was shown to act as a bridging ligand to form triple-decker metal complexes. More recently, work on metallabenzenes implied that their chemical properties are close enough to those of benzene to be used as bridging ligands in stacked metal complexes. researchers first prepared a bimetallic ruthenium hydride complex by reaction of a ruthenium cyclopentadienyl-norbornadiene complex with sodium formate in tetrahydrofuran. The product was isolated and then protonated using HBF4. The ruthenabenzene complex formed unexpectedly and crystallized from solution on standing
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