Preparation and molecular structure of a dinuclear rhodium complex having an unbalanced (15 + 17)-electron count

The reaction of [Rh2(acac)2{μ-C(p-tol)2}2(μ-SbiPr3)] (1) with PMe3 led to the displacement of the stibine by phosphine and afforded the highly labile intermediate [Rh2(acac)2(PMe3){μ-C(p-tol)2}2] (2) in which the PMe3 ligand possibly occupies a terminal position. Treatment of 2 with CO at low temperatures gave the unsymmetrical dinuclear complex [Rh2(acac)2(PMe3){μ-C(p-tol)2}2(μ-CO)] (3), the molecular structure of which was determined crystallographically.