Cross-conjugated 3-ferrocenylmethylidene-2,4-dimethylpenta-1,4-diene in cationic cycloaddition and proton-catalyzed cyclodimerization reactions

Cationic cycloaddition of cross-conjugated 3-ferrocenylmethylidene-2,4-dimethylpenta-1,4-diene to 1-ferrocenyl-2-isopropenyl-3,3-dimethylallylium tetrafluoroborate and its proton-catalyzed cyclodimerization result in diferrocenylbicyclo[3.3.1]nonene derivatives. The spatial structure of one of the reaction products, viz., ferroceno[4,5]-{9-ferrocenylmethylidene-1,3,3,8,10-pentamethyltricyclo[6.3.1.02,6]dodec-2(6)-ene}, was established based on the data from X-ray diffraction analysis.