The preparation and molecular structure of the first primary ferrocenylphosphine complex of tungsten(II), [WI2(CO)3(FcCH2PH2)2] [Fc=Fe(η5-C5H5)(η5-C5H4)]

Reaction of [WI2(CO)3(NCMe)2] with two equivalents of FcCH2PH2 [Fc=Fe(η5-C5H5)(η5-C5H4)] in CH2Cl2 at room temperature gave [WI2(CO)3(FcCH2PH2)2] (1) in 94% yield which was crystallographically characterised. This is the first primary ferrocenylphosphine complex of tungsten(II) and has a distorted capped octahedral structure, with trans-phosphine ligands and a carbonyl group that caps a triangular face formed by two carbonyl and one phosphine ligand.