Thermal and photochemical analysis of bimetallic Bi-Mo and Bi-W carbonyl complexes

Abstract We investigated the thermal behavior of bimetallic Bi-Mo and Bi-W carbonyl complexes, [Mo(CO)5(BiPh3)] and [W(CO)5(BiPh3)] respectively, to understand the mechanism of decomposition. TGA-DTA, TGA-MS, FTIR, powder XRD and EDX were used to analyze these compounds at different temperatures. At elevated temperature (∼150 °C) loss of the M(CO)6 (M = Mo, W) group occurs first, followed by the loss of phenyl groups at ∼300 °C, resulting in the formation of yellow Bi2O3 in presence of air. Additionally, we studied the photochemical behavior of these bimetallic Bi-Mo and Bi-W carbonyl complexes. UV irradiation of these compounds caused the loss of the metal carbonyl, resulting in the formation of BiPh3.