Half-sandwich rhodium polychalcogenide complexes and a carbon insertion into Te-Te bond

Treatment of CptRh(PMe3)Cl2(1) (Cpt = 5(- tBu2C5H3) with Et4N]2Se6 in DMF solution leads to the formation of cyclo-tetraselenido half-sandwich rhodium complexes CptRh(PMe3)(Se4) (2). The elimination of 2 with excess of nBu3P results in cyclo-diselenido rhodium complex CptRh(PMe3)(Se2) (3). 1 reacts with nBu4N]2Te5 in DMF solution to yield cyclo-ditellurido rhodium complex CptRh (PMe3)(Te2) (4) in which carbon atom from CH2Cl2 can be inserted into Te-Te bond to form CptRh(PMe3)(TeCH2Te) (5). The new complexes 2-5 have been characterized by their IR, EI-MS, and 1H, 13C, 31P, 103Rh NMR spectra as well as elemental analysis.