Reaction of ferrocenecarboxylic acid with N,N′-disubstituted carbodiimides: synthesis, spectroscopic and X-ray crystallographic analysis of N,N′-disubstituted N-ferrocenoylureas and identification of a one-pot coupling reagent for the formation of ferroce

N,N′-dicyclohexyl-N-ferrocenoylurea 2, N,N′-diisopropyl-N-ferrocenoylurea 3, N,N′-di-p-tolyl-N-ferrocenoylurea 4 and N,N′-di-tert-butyl-N-ferrocenoylurea 5 were obtained by reaction of ferrocenecarboxylic acid 1 with N,N′-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCC), N,N′-diisopropylcarbodiimide (DIC), N,N′-di-p-tolylcarbodiimide 10 and N,N′-di-tert-butylcarbodiimide 11, respectively. Both N-tert-butyl-N′-ethyl-N-ferrocenoylurea 6 and N′-tert-butyl-N-ethyl-N-ferrocenoylurea 7 were obtained by reaction of 1 with N-tert-butyl-N′-ethylcarbodiimide 12. In all cases a small amount of ferrocenecarboxylic anhydride 8 was formed as a by-product. All compounds were characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, IR and MS. Single crystal X-ray structural analyses were made of 2, 3 and 4. From the consistent results, the reaction products of 1 with carbodiimides appear different from those proposed by some earlier workers. With N-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-N′-ethylcarbodiimidehydrochloride 9 ferrocenoylurea was not isolated, but the main product was rather 8. The suitability of 8 as acylation reagent was applied by using 9 to obtain N-(3-triethoxysilyl)-propylferrocenecarboxamide in a one-pot reaction from 1 and 3-(triethoxysilyl)-propylamine.