Cobalt/mercury carbide clusters based on trigonal-prismatic or octahedral Co6C skeletons - X-ray crystal structure of (NEt4)(2)[Co6C(CO)(12){HgW(CO)(3)Cp}(2)]

The anionic transition metal clusters (NEt4)[Co6C(CO)(x)- {HgM}] [M = W(CO) (3)Cp, Mo(CO)(3)Cp, Fe(CO)(2)Cp, Co(CO)(4), Mn(CO)(5)] (x = 13 or 15) have been obtained by reaction of the corresponding octahedral (x = 13) or trigo nal-prismdtic (x = 15) cobalt carbido carbonyl clusters with the mercury de rivatives ClHgM. Metal skeleton rearrangements and some redox processes hav e been found to be induced by varying both the temperature and the solvent, resulting in new compounds containing tetra- or hexacoordinated mercury at oms.