Organometallic complexes formed from acetylenes

Abstract

The sticky, brown soups formed in the reactions between acetylenes and metal carbonyls yield an amazing variety of complexes including many of the organometallic exotica. The nature and yields of the complexes depend markedly on the reaction conditions, in particular the solvent used and the temperature. Similarly the nature of the products varies considerably with changes from one acetylene to another or with a change of stoicheiometry of the metal carbonyl complex. Thus Fe₃(CO)₁₂ yields a wider variety of complexes than Fe(CO)₅. Any particular reaction may produce some dozen or so isolable organometallic complexes, to say nothing about the purely organic products which are also formed. Progress in this field has been due largely to the use of chromatography to separate products and of X-ray diffraction to find the structures of the often unusual bi- or poly-nuclear organometallic products.