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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Preparative and Electrochemical Investigations on the Electron Sponge Behavior of Cobalt Telluride Clusters: CO Substitution in[Co11Te7(CO)10]n− Ions (n=1, 2) by PMe2Ph and Crystal Structure of[Co11Te7(CO)5(PMe2Ph)5]

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The reaction of the cluster salts [Cp* 2 Nb(CO) 2 ] n [Co 1 1 Te 7 (CO) 1 0 ] (Cp* = C 5 Me 5 ; n = 1, 2) with excess PMe 2 Ph gave the neutral, dark brown clusters [Co 1 1 Te 7 (CO) 6 (PMe 2 Ph) 4 ] (5) and [Co 1 1 Te 7 (CO) 5 (PMe 2 Ph) 5 ] (6) with 147 metal valence electrons. The new compounds were characterized by IR spectroscopy, elemental analyses, and mass spectrometry. The molecular structure of 6 was determined by X+ray crystallography. Like its precursor anion, it consists of a pentagonal-prismatic [Co 1 1 Te 7 ] core, but with a ligand sphere composed of five CO and five PMe 2 Ph ligands. Detailed electrochemical studies of both reactions reveal that a stepwise substitution of CO ligands in the initial cluster anions takes place leading to intermediate [Co 1 1 Te 7 (CO) 1 0 - m (PMe 2 Ph) m ] n - ions (m = 1 - 5; n = 1, 2). Each of these intermediates is distinguished by at least one oxidation and two reduction waves, giving rise to a total of 21 redox couples and 27 electroactive species. The electron sponge character of the new compounds is particularly pronounced in 5, which exhibits charges n between + 1 and - 4 corresponding to metal valence electron counts of between 146 and 151.