Metal–metal bond cleavage of carbene complexes by halogens: The crystal and molecular structures of ax-[Mn2(CO)9{C(OEt)2-thienyl}], [Mn(CO)4(I){C(OEt)2-thienyl}] and eq-[Mn2(CO)9{C(NH2)2-thienyl}]

The metal–metal bond in [M2(CO)9{C(OEt)R}] (M = Mn (1), Re (2), R = 2-thienyl (a), 2-bithienyl (b)) is readily cleaved with halogens to afford cis-[M(CO)4(X){C(OEt)R}] (M = Mn (3), X = I; M = Re (4), X = Br). In the binuclear manganese complex, the carbene ligand is found in an axial position due to steric reasons, whereas the electronically favoured equatorial position is found for the carbene ligands in the corresponding rhenium complexes and in [Mn2(CO)9{C(NH2)thienyl}] (5a), containing a sterically less demanding NH2-substituent.