ORGANOMETALLIC NITROSYL CHEMISTRY .43. SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF CHIRAL MOLYBDENUM AND TUNGSTEN NEUTRAL COMPLEXES CONTAINING ETA-2-BENZYL LIGANDS

{Reaction of Cp’M(NO)Cl2 (Cp’ = Cp (eta-5-C5H5) or Cp* (eta-5-C5Me5); M = Mo or W) with 2 equiv of p-XylMgCl (p-Xyl = p-MeC6H4CH2) affords the corresponding bis(p-xylyl) complexes in good yields. Subsequent treatment of the Cp’M(NO)(CH2Ar)2 compounds (CH2Ar = CH2Ph or p-Xyl) with HCl produces the new isolable Cp’M(NO)(CH2Ar)Cl species. These, in turn, undergo metathesis reactions with RMgCl or R2Mg(dioxane)2 reagents and convert to Cp’M(NO)(CH2Ar)R (R = CH2SiMe3, CH2CMe3 (Npt), or C6H4CH3 (p-Tol)). All new complexes isolated during this work have been fully characterized by conventional spectroscopic methods. Single-crystal X-ray crystallographic analyses have been performed on two prototypal complexes, namely Cp*Mo(NO)(CH2Ph)Cl and Cp*Mo(NO)(CH2Ph)(CH2SiMe3). Crystal data for Cp*Mo(NO)(CH2Ph)Cl: a = 9.3451 (16) angstrom