Reaction of dipropargyl phthalate with Co2(CO)8 and Mo2Cp2(CO)4 gives the di or tetranuclear clusters.: The crystal structure of [C6H4-1,2-(CO2CH2C2H-μ)2][Co2(CO)6]2 and [o-(HC2CH2OCO)C6H4(CO2CH2C2H-μ)][Mo2Cp2(CO)4]-CH2Cl2

The reaction of dipropargyl phthalate with Co-2(CO)(8) in benzene at room temperature gave a new cluster [C6H4-1,2-(CO2CH2C2H-mu)(2)][Co-2(CO)(6)](2) 1, which reacts with the cyclopentadienyl tricarbonyl molybdenum anion [Mo(CO)(3)Cp](-) to form the tetranuclear clusters [C6H4-1,2-(CO2CH2C2H-mu)(2)][Co-2(CO)(6)][CoMoCp(CO)(5)] 2 and [C6H4-1,2-(CO2CH2C2H-mu)(2)] [CoMoCp(CO)(5)](2) 3, respectively. The reaction of Mo2Cp2(CO)(4) with dipropargyl phthalate gave rise to the formation of the dinuclear cluster [o-(HC2CH2OCO)C6H4(CO2CH2C2H-mu)][Mo2Cp2(CO)(4)] 4 and tetranuclear cluster [C6H4-1,2-(CO2CH2C2H-mu)(2)] [Mo2Cp2(CO)(4)](2) 5, respectively. The cluster 4 reacted with Co-2(CO)(8) to produce the tetranuclear cluster [C6H4-1,2-(CO2CH2C2H-mu)(2)][Co-2(CO)(6)] [Mo2Cp2(CO)(4)] 6. These clusters were characterized by C/H analyses, IR and H-1 NMR. The structure of [C6H4-1,2-(CO2CH2C2H-mu)(2)][Co-2(CO)(6)](2) 1 and [o-(HC2CH2OCO)C6H4 (CO2CH2C2H-mu)][Mo2Cp2(CO)(4)]-CH2Cl2 4.CH2Cl2 were determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction methods. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.