Synthesis and structures of some di- and triferrocenylmethane derivatives

Some triferrocenylmethane derivatives were prepared by reaction of triferrocenylmethanol (5) with triphenylcarbenium tetrafluoroborate followed by a nucleophile. Crystal structure analyses of triferrocenylmethane (7) and of 1,1,1-triferrocenyl-2,2-dimethylpropane (11) show that the conformation adopted by the triferrocenylmethyl group differs significantly with the steric bulk of the substituent at the central carbon atom. Treatment of 1,1′-bis(tributylstannyl)ferrocene (13) with 1 equiv. of butyllithium followed by chloroethylformiate affords complexes with one (14), two (15) or three ferrocenyl units (16) depending on the amount of chloroethylformiate used. Compound 16 is the first triferrocenylmethane derivative with substituents at the opposite cyclopentadienyl ring. Threefold lithiation of this compound is shown to work using butyllithium followed by dimethylformamide.