Homoleptic coordination of arsenine C5H5As to molybdenum(0) and tungsten(0): further observations on the eta1,eta6-dilemma

By means of metal-atom ligand-vapor cocondensation (CC) hexa(eta1-arsenine)molybdenum (11) and hexa(eta1-arsenine)tungsten (12) have been prepared; in the molybdenum case, the sandwich complex bis(eta6-arsenine)molybdenum (10) has been isolated as the primary product. The structure of 12 follows from a single-crystal X-ray diffraction study. Based on the results of CC synthesis, chromium binds to arsenine in the eta6-mode exclusively, molybdenum features both options eta1 and eta6, and for tungsten only eta1 coordination is observed.