Replacement of imido by disulfido at the molybdenum(VI) centre: reactivity of bis(imido) complexes [Mo(η2-S2CNEt2)2(NR)2] with hydrogen sulfide and Lawessonʹs reagent: X-ray crystal structure of [Mo(η2-S2CNEt2)2(η2-S2)(N-2,6-Cl2C6H3)]

Reactions of molybdenum(VI) bis(imido) complexes [Mo(η2-S2CNEt2)2(NR)2] with hydrogen sulfide and Lawessonʹs reagent, [PS(4-MeOC6H4)(μ-S)]2, have been carried out in an attempt to generate imido–sulfido complexes [Mo(η2-S2CNEt2)2(NR)(S)], however, while in all cases one imido ligand is lost, imido–disulfido complexes [Mo(η2-S2CNEt2)2(η2-S2)(NR)] are the major products and [Mo(η2-S2CNEt2)2(η2-S2)(N-2,6-Cl2C6H3)] has been characterised crystallographically. The ligands are arranged in a distorted pentagonal bipyramidal configuration with the imido ligand occupying an axial site being characterised by a short MoN bond of 1.747(8) Å and a MoNC(ipso) angle of 164.9(8)°. The disulfido ligand occupies two equatorial sites with a SS bond length of 2.034(5) Å.