Inorganica Chimica Acta 328 (2002) 254 – 258 www.elsevier.com/locate/ica Note Syntheses and crystal structures of mononuclear [2.2]paracyclophane complexes of rhodium and iridium supported by the pentamethylcyclopentadienyl ligand [M( 6 -pcp)( 5 -C 5 Me 5 )](BF 4 ) 2 (M = Rh and Ir) Masahiko Maekawa a, *, Naoki Hashimoto b , Takayoshi Kuroda-Sowa b , Yusaku Suenaga b , Megumu Munakata b a Research Institute for Science and Technology, Kinki Uniersity, 3 -4 -1 Kowakae, Higashi -Osaka 577 -8502, Japan b Department of Chemistry, Kinki Uniersity, Kowakae, Higashi -Osaka 577 -8502, Japan Received 13 July 2001; accepted 20 September 2001 Abstract Mononuclear [2.2]paracyclophane complexes of Rh and Ir, [M( 6 -pcp)( 5 -C 5 Me 5 )](BF 4 ) 2 (M=Rh (1) and Ir (2); pcp = [2.2]paracyclophane) were crystallized and their structures were first characterized crystallographically. On both pcp complexes the metal atom is bonded to the benzene ring on one side of the pcp ligand in the 6 -coordination mode. The metal atom is also supported by the 5 -C 5 Me 5 ligand to afford a triple-decker sandwich structure. In Rh pcp complex 1 the average RhC(pcp) and RhC(C 5 Me 5 ) distances are 2.284(2) and 2.161(2) A , respectively. The average C(pcp)C(pcp) distance of 1.407(4) A with the Rh atom is longer than that (1.388(4) A ) without a Rh atom. Similarly, the average IrC(pcp) and IrC(C 5 Me 5 ) distances in Ir pcp complex 2 are 2.275(3) and 2.174(3) A , respectively. The average C(pcp)C(pcp) distance of 1.410(4) A with the Ir atom is longer than that (1.388(4) A ) without an Ir atom. It is interesting that the average interannular distances of 2.97 A for 1 and 2 between two decks of the pcp ligand are shorter than that (3.09 A ) of the metal-free pcp ligand, indicative of the decrease of the repulsive -interaction between benzene rings. The Rh pcp complex gave the well-resolved 1 H NMR signals of [Rh( 6 -pcp)( 5 -C 5 Me 5 )] 2 + , whereas the Ir pcp complex exhibited two kinds of 1 H NMR signals which were assigned as [Ir( 6 -pcp)( 5 -C 5 Me 5 )] 2 + and [Ir 2 ( 6 -pcp)( 5 -C 5 Me 5 ) 2 ] 4 + in (CD 3 ) 2 CO at 23 °C. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Rhodium complexes; Iridium complexes; Cyclophanes; Cyclopentadienyls; Crystal structures; 1 H NMR 1. Introduction Transition metal complexes of cyclophanes continue to be a new and exciting area of organometallic chem- istry [1 – 5]. There have been many publications dealing with the synthesis and the spectroscopic characteriza- tion of such complexes. Such studies are of interest, because they can provide useful information about the changes in the cyclophane skeleton due to metal -bonding. Four possible coordination modes as metal complexes of [2.2]paracyclophane (pcp) are illustrated in Scheme 1. The pcp complexes of the coordination mode (a) are most general [6–13], which have been produced by the support of carbonyl, anime and cy- clopentadienyl ligands as a stabilizing co-ligand (L). Cr complex [Cr( 6 -pcp)(CO) 3 ] [6] and Ru complex [Ru( 6 - pcp)(C 5 H 5 N) 2 Cl] [9] with a piano stool structure and Fe complex [Fe( 6 -pcp)( 5 -C 5 H 5 )](BF 4 ) 2 [8] with a triple- decker structure have been crystallographically charac- terized. On the other hand, the pcp complexes of the coordination mode (b) [7,14,15] and (c) [16,17] have been relatively limited. The crystal structures of Ru complexes [Ru 2 ( 5 , 5 -pcp)( 6 -C 6 Me 6 ) 2 ](BF 4 ) 2 [14] and * Corresponding author. Fax: +81-6-6730 5896. E-mail address: maekawa@rist.kindai.ac.jp (M. Maekawa). 0020-1693/02/$ - see front matter © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII:S0020-1693(01)00720-4