STEPWISE SYNTHESIS OF TRIMETALLIC DITHIOPHOSPHINATO CLUSTERS CONTAINING A CUBANE-TYPE MO2WCUS4 CLUSTER CORE

Starting from Mo(CO)(6) and disulfanes R(2)P(S)-S-S-P(S)R(2) the ''tri metallic'' tetranuclear clusters Mo2WCuS4I(R(2)PS(2))(4) 3 (R = Et (a) , Pr (b)) were obtained via the dinuclear compounds Mo2S4(R(2)PS(2))(2 ) 1 and the trinuclear complexes Mo2WS4(R(2)PS(2))(4) 2. The crystal s tructure of 3b shows a cubane-type core Mo2WCuS4. Both Mo atoms and th e W atom are chelated by a dithiophosphinato ligand. One Mo and the W atom are bridged by the fourth ligand. The coordination of W and Mo2 i s octahedral, of Mol trigonal bipyramidal, and of Cu tetrahedral.