Solventless migratory-insertion reactions of substituted cyclopentadienyl iron complexes induced by electron donor ligands

Reaction between solid (C5H5)Fe(CO) 2CH3 and a range of solid phosphine ligands, L (L = PPh3, P(m-CH3C6H4)3, P(p-CH3C6H4)3, P(p-FC6H4)3, P(p-ClC6H4)3, PCy3) occurred in the absence of solvent in the melt phase to give the migratory-insertion products, (C5H5)Fe(CO)(COCH3)(L). The reaction was more rapid with small electron withdrawing ligands. Insertion reaction between (RC5H4)Fe(CO) 2 R’ (R = H, CH3; R’ = CH3, CH2Ph) and gaseous ligands such as SO2 and CO were also studied. The insertion of SO2 occurred readily for all the substrates investigated, but CO insertion did not occur (< 1 %) using the solventless reaction condition.