ELECTROCHEMICAL INVESTIGATION OF METAL CARBONYL-ISOCYANIDE COMPLEX CATIONS

Abstract

Polarographic measurements on the cations CpFe(CO)_3-n ⁺ (L=PPh₃, n=1,2; L=CH₃NC, n=1–3) show an increasingly anodic one-electron reduction wave as CO is successively substituted by L. The effect is greater for L=CNCH₃ than for L=PPh₃. The reduced species then either lose L and dimerize (giving rise to a second reduction wave) decompose. Heretofore unreported Mössbauer parameters for the isocyanide complexes are given and correlated with the polarographic results.