A facile and novel route to unprecedented manganese C4 cumulenic complexes.

The theoretically characterized (DFT) C4 cumulenic species Mn(C5H4R)(dmpe) {CCCC(SnPh3)2} was obtained by photolysis of the Csp2–Sn bond in the vinylidene complex Mn(C5H4R)(dmpe)[CC(SnPh3)–CCSnPh3], which in turn was prepared by a thermal reaction from MnC5H4R(dmpe)(C7H8) and Ph3Sn–C4–SnPh3.