ARENE COMPLEXES OF ZIRCONIUM CONTAINING TRIANGULAR CLUSTER CATIONS [(ETA-6-C(6)H(6)ME(3))(3)ZR-3(MU-CL)(6)](N+), N=2,3

Ionic pi-mesitylene zirconium complexes (1-4) have been obtained by a reaction between ZrCl4 and a metal reducer (Al, Zn or Mg) in the presence of AlCl3 in mesitylene. An X-ray study has shown that in the triangular cluster cations [(eta(6)-C(6)H(3)Me(3))(3)Zr-3(mu-Cl-6)](n+) an increase in the charge from 2+ (1,2) to 3+ (3,4) is accompanied by shortening of the Zr-Zr distances from 3.32-3.33 Angstrom to 3.27-3.28 Angstrom. AlCl4- (1), Al2Cl7- (1-3), and Mg[(mu-Cl)(2)AlCl2](-)(3) (4), the latter found here for the first time, are present in the complexes studied as counterions.