Neutron scattering study of the reorientational motions in Cr(CO)3(η6C6H6) and Mn(CO)3(η5C5H5)

Incoherent quasi-eleastic neutron scattering experiments: using different resolutions and a wide Q range, have been performed on polycrystalline samples of Cr(CO)₃(η⁶C₆H₆) and Mn(CO)₃(η⁵C₅H₅) in the 280–320 K temperature range. It is shown that aromatic rings are involved into a reorientational process characterized by an activation energy of ≈ 16 kJ mol^?1 and by correlation times of the order of 2 × 10^?11 s and 5 × 10^?11 s at 300 K for C₆H₆ and C₅H₅ rings respectively. Experimental elastic incoherent structure factors are in agreement with the 2π/6 and 2π/5 jump models and the fitted spectra confirm these models. From a comparison with heat-capacity results we conclude that M(CO)₃ groups are fixed during the reorientational process. Finally a comparison with literature data is presented.