Syntheses, structures, and reactions of rhenium and ruthenium carbonyl derivatives of 2,2′-bis(indenyl)propane

Treatment of 2,2′-bis(indenyl)propane with Re2(CO)10 in refluxing decane resulted in both monometalated rhenium carbonyl complex 1 and bimetalated rhenium carbonyl derivatives rac-2 and meso-2, which were separated by chromatography, and fully characterized by 1H NMR, IR, EA and single crystal X-ray diffraction. UV photolysis of 1 yielded the novel compound (CMe2)[(η5-C9H6)(η2-C9H7)]Re(CO)2 (3), in which one carbonyl ligand is replaced by an η2 coordinated isomerized pendant indene group. Heating a mixture of 2,2′-bis(indenyl)propane with Ru3(CO)12 in refluxing decane provided the corresponding diruthenium carbonyl complexes as a mixture of rac and meso diastereomers (rac-5, and meso-5), which were also successfully separated and characterized by X-ray diffraction.