Electron-poor 2,3-Dihydro-1,3-Diborolyl Complexes of Iron and Ruthenium: Synthesis, Reactivity, and Crystal and Electronic Structures of an Iron Sandwich Complex.

The addition product of sodium hydride and the 2,3-dihydro-1,3-diborole (CiPr) (BEt) CHMe (3c) reacted with [{(C Me )FeCl} ] to produce the green sandwich complex [(C Me )Fe{n -(CiPr) (BEt) CMe}] (2 c), which formally contains 16 valence electrons (VE). Complex 2c has unexpected structural properties in the solid state: the 1,3-diborolyl ring is extremely folded (41°), and the Fe-C2 distance is short (1.90 Å).