Lanthanide hydroxide cubane clusters anchoring ferrocenes: Model compounds for fixation of organometallic fragments on a lanthanide oxide surface

Abstract

The reaction of the lanthanide trichloride hexahydrates [LnCl3·6H2O] (Ln = Yb, Lu) with two equivalents of benzoylferrocenoylmethane resulted in the tetranuclear lanthanide hydroxo clusters [Ln4(μ3-OH)4(FcacacPh)8] (Ln = Yb (1), Lu (2); FcacacPh = benzoylferrocenoylmethanide). Compounds 1 and 2 are made up of a distorted tetranuclear lanthanide Ln4O4cubane core consisting of four μ3-oxygen atoms while the eight FcacacPh ligands build up the peripheral part of the cluster. These compounds contain the maximum number of ferrocene units anchored to any molecular metal–heteroatom framework reported so far and for which the X-ray structures are known. © 2005 The Royal Society of Chemistry.