Chiral molybdenum(0) and tungsten(0) carbonyl diimine complexes

Abstract The chiral diimine ligand C 5 H 4 N-2-C(C 6 H 5 ) N{(1 S ,2 S )-C 5 H 8 -2-OCH 2 C 6 H 5 )} ( 1 ) was prepared via the reaction of 2-benzoyl pyridine and (1 S ,2 S )-(+)-2-benzyloxycyclopentylamine. 1 (=L) reacts with M(CO) 6 in toluene to give the respective metal(0) complexes [M(CO) 4 (L-κ N , N ′)] (M = Mo ( 2 ) and W( 3 )). 1 – 3 were fully characterized by elemental analyses, IR, multinuclear NMR spectroscopy and MS. The complexes 2 and 3 are isostructural and crystallize in the chiral hexagonal space group P 3 1 with three molecules in the unit cell.