Studies on the cyclomercuration of 1,1′-bis[(arylimino)phenylmethyl]ferrocenes

Abstract The reaction of bisferrocenylimines with mercuric acetate and subsequent treatment with LiCl lead to formation of mono ( 9 ) and double ( 10 ) cyclomercurated derivatives. The 1 H NMR and 199 Hg NMR spectra of the double cyclomercurated bisferrocenylimines show that compounds 10 exist as two isomers ( meso and dl ). The individual stereoisomers were isolated successfully by crystal picking. The structures of these new compounds have been confirmed by elemental analysis, IR and 1 H NMR spectroscopies, and further by X-ray crystal structure determination of meso [{HgCl(η 5 -C 5 H 3 CPh=NAr)} 2 Fe] (Ar= m -CH 3 C 6 H 4 ).