Synthesis and characterization of several molybdenum chloride cluster compounds

Investigation into the direct synthesis of Mo/sub 4/Cl/sub 8/(P(C/sub 2/H/sub 5/)/sub 3/)/sub 4/ from Mo/sub 2/(OAc)/sub 4/ led to a synthetic procedure that produces yields greater than 80%. The single-crystal structure disclosed a planar rectangular cluster of molybdenum atoms. Metal-metal bond distances suggest that the long edges of the rectangular cluster should be considered to be single bonds and the short metal-metal bonds to be triple bonds. This view is reinforced by an extended Hueckel calculation. Attempts to add a metal atom to Mo/sub 4/Cl/sub 8/(PR/sub 3/)/sub 4/ to form Mo/sub 5/Cl/sub 10/(PR/sub 3/)/sub 3/ led instead to a compound with the composition Mo/sub 8/Cl/sub 16/(PR/sub 3/)/sub 4/. Solution and reflectance uv-visible spectra and x-ray photoelectron spectra suggest that tetranuclear molybdenum units are present. The facile reaction between Mo/sub 8/Cl/sub 16/(PR/sub 3/)/sub 4/ and PR/sub 3/ imply that the linkage between tetrameric units is weak.