Preparation, properties and coordination of new conjugated ferrocenyl-based ligands with an end-capped nitrile

New ferrocenyl-nitrile conjugated ligands have been obtained by several rou tes in which we combined Wittig and Horner-Emmons-Wadsworth (HEW) reactions , being the latter the one that shows better results both in yield and sele ctivity for the E isomers. The coordination capabilities of these new ligan ds have been proved using different metal carbonyls and the electronic spec tra of the compounds have been studied, showing a clear dependence on the l ength of the conjugated chain and in the nature of the coordinated metal ca rbonyl fragment. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.