The electrochemical synthesis and X-ray single crystal study of Re4O6(OiPr)10 – a new Rhenium(V, VI) cluster with an unprecedented arrangement of metal–metal bonds

The anodic oxidation of rhenium metal in isopropanol at temperatures not exceeding 20°C provides with good yields the crystalline Re4O6(OiPr)10 (I) complex, the molecular structure of which is built up around a practically ideal (Re–Re 2.52–2.54 Å) planar rhombus of metal atoms, being thus connected by five equivalent metal–metal bonds in a system with only six cluster electrons.