Optimised Syntheses of the Half-Sandwich Complexes FeCl(dppe)Cp*, FeCl(dppe)Cp, RuCl(dppe)Cp*, and RuCl(dppe)Cp

Abstract

Thanks to their synthetic versatility, the half-sandwich metal chlorides MCl(dppe)(η5-C5R5) [M = Fe, Ru; dppe = 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane, R = H (cyclopentadiene, Cp), CH3 (pentamethylcyclopentadiene, Cp*)] are staple starting materials in many organometallic laboratories. Here we present an overview of the synthetic methods currently available for FeCl(dppe)Cp*, FeCl(dppe)Cp, RuCl(dppe)Cp*, and RuCl(dppe)Cp, and describe in detail updated and optimised multigram syntheses of all four compounds.