Coordination chemistry of organometallic polydentate ligand Reactive chemistry of the tridentate ligand trans‐Fe(Ph2PQu‐P)2‐(CO)3 [PhzPQu=2‐diphenyl‐phosphino‐4‐methylquinoline] and molecular structure of [Fe(CO)3(μ‐Ph2PQu)2HgI]+ [HgI3]

Reaction of a new type of bidentate ligand PhPQu PhPQu = 2‐diphenylphosphino‐4‐methylquinoline] with Fe(CO)₅ in butanol gave trans‐Fe(FpPQu‐P)(CO)₃ (1). Compound 1, which can act as a neutral tridentate organometallic ligand, was reacted with I B, II B metal compounds and a rhodium complex to give six binuclear complexes with Fe? M bonds, Fe(CO)₃ (μ‐Ph₂PQu)MX_n (2–7) M= Zn(II), Cd(II), Hg(II), Cu(I), Ag(I), Rh(I)], and an ion‐pair complex Fe(CO)₃ (μ‐Ph₂PQu)₂HgI]HgI₃]^? (8). The structure of 8 was determined by X‐ray crystallography. Complex 8 crystallizes in the space group P‐1 with a = 1.0758(3), b = 1.6210(4), c=1.7155(4)nm; a=75.60(2), β=71.81(2), γ=81.78(2)° and Z = 2 and its structure was refined to give agreement factors of R=0.050 and R_w = 0.057. The Fe‐Hg bond distance is 0.2536nm.