Synthesis, structure, and reactivity of osmium π-thiophene complexes

[{(η6-p-cymene)OsCl(μ-Cl)}2] reacts with silver triflate and thiophenes to give the sandwich compounds [Os(η6-p-cymene)(η5-thio)](OTf)2 (thio=thiophene, 2,5-dimethylthiophene (DMT), 2,3,4,5-tetramethylthiophene (TMT)). While these compounds do not react cleanly with nucleophiles to form thiopheneyl derivatives, they do react via base hydrolysis to give new acyl thiolate complexes, [Os(η6-p-cymene)(SC3R3C(O)R)], which have closely related ruthenium analogues.