Synthesis and structure of new phosphine-substituted homo- and hetero-bimetallic carbonyl clusters of iron, ruthenium and nickel. Characterization of two inorganic–organometallic hybrid materials based on mesoporous SBA-15 silica

The reactions of the complexes Fe3(CO)12, H2FeRu3(CO)13, H2Ru4(CO)13 and CpNiRu3(H)3(CO)9 with 2(diphenylphosphino)ethyl-triethoxysilane give considerable yields of the complexes Fe3(CO)10L2 (1), H2FeRu3(CO)10L2 (2), Ru4(CO)10L3 (3) and CpNiRu3(H)3(CO)7L2 (4) where L = Ph2PCH2CH2Si(OEt)3. The complexes (1–3) have been characterized by analytical and spectroscopic techniques. The structure of (4) has been determined by X-ray analysis. The presence of a phosphine containing the –Si(OEt)3 group has been exploited for grafting complexes (3) and (4) on the mesoporous SBA-15 and the resulting inorganic–organometallic materials have been characterized by means of ICP-MS, FT-IR, DR-UV–vis spectroscopy, XRD and textural analysis.

Graphical abstractNew phosphine-substituted clusters based on different metals (Fe, Ru and Ni) can be easily anchored to mesoporous silica materials and give access to many inorganic–organometallic systems suitable for heterogeneous catalysis.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide