Reactions of molybdenum and tungsten halides with acetylenic hydrocarbons: an approach to the structure and pathways of formation of metathesis catalysts

A number of acetylene and mixed acetylene-nitrile complexes of tungsten and molybdenum halides have been prepared and investigated. Depending on the acetylene and the reaction conditions, one or more acetylene molecules may be coordinated to the metal. In the latter case acetylenes are coordinated not as single molecules but in systems of conjugated non-aromatic double bonds. On the basis of the supposed structure of such species and on their pyrolysis products a decomposition scheme is proposed, which consider the formation of apparent metathesis products as a side reaction of the cyclotrimerization of acetylenes to aromatic hydrocarbons.