Reactions of nitrosonium ion with anionic carbonyl monomers and clusters. Crystal and molecular structure of FeCo₂(μ₃-NH)(CO)₉

The reactions of several mono- and poly-nuclear carbonyl metallates with nitrosonium ion have been studied. Besides simple substitution of a carbon monoxide with NO⁺ some reactions yielded products containing other nitrogeneous ligands. When [CoRu₃(CO)₁₃]^- reacts with NO⁺, low yields of the new nitrido cluster CoRu₃N(CO)₁₂ are formed. Prior conversion of [CoRu₃(CO)₁₃]^- to the new hydrido cluster [H₂CoRu₃(CO)₁₂]^- under hydrogen, followed by nitrosylation, forms the new imido cluster H₂Ru₃(NH)(CO)₉ in very low yield. The reaction of [FeCO₃(CO)₁₂]^- with NO⁺ also generates an imido cluster, FeCo₂(NH)(CO)₉, in 15% yield. This cluster has been characterized by X-ray crystallography and was found to be similar to the tricobalt alkylidyne clusters. (Triclinic crystal system, P1 space group, Z=2, a 6.787(1), b 8.016(1), c 13.881(2) Å, α 95.50(1), β 100.77(1), γ 107.93(1)°. Modifications of the nitrosylations using NO⁺ were studied. In particular, the addition of triethylamine or N-t-butylbenzaldimine allowed the use of NO⁺ in THF without solvent decomposition. With [CpMo(CO)₃]^- and [CpFe(CO)₂]^- the N-nitrosoiminium species appears to form transient alkylmetals which further react to give the dimers [CpMo(CO)₃]₂ and [CpFe(CO)₂]₂.