The effect of Brønsted acids on the stability of oxo-alkoxide and imido-alkoxide complexes of molybdenum

Proton acids are found to catalyse the decomposition of the oxo-alkoxide and imido-alkoxide complexes Mo(O)2(O-t-Bu)2 and Mo(N-2,6-i-Pr2C6H3)2(O-t-Bu)2, respectively; the molecular structure of the tetranuclear molybdenum decomposition product [Mo4(N-2,6-i-Pr2C6H3)6(O-t-Bu)2(μ-O)4(μ3-OH)2] is described.