The paramagnetic 17-electron eta3-allylic complexes [(Tripod)Co(eta3-A
llyl)]+ (Tripod = CH3C(CH2PPh2)3); Allyl = C3H5, 2a; CH2 -C(CH3) - CH2
, 2b; (CH3)CH - CH - CH 2, 2c) have been obtained from (Tripod)Co(eta2
-O2CCH3)+, 1, as crystalline BPh4-salts. The compounds have been chara
cterized by X-ray analyses as well as by usual techniques including ES
R. Compounds 2 have been found to act as effective catalysts for allyl
ic alkylations. As an ''ample the catalytic formation of 4-phenylbuten
e-1 is given.