Crown compounds for anions. Sandwich complex of cyclic trimeric perfluoro-o-phenylenemercury with [B12H11SCN]2– anion

The reaction of cyclic trimeric perfluoro-o-phenylenemercury (o-C6F4Hg)3 (1) with the polyhedral [B12H11SCN]2– anion in THF at 20 °C affords the {[(o-C6F4Hg)3](B12H11SCN)}2– (4) and {[(o-C6F4Hg)3]2(B12H11SCN)}2– (5) complexes. Complex 5 was isolated as the tetrabutylammonium salt. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that this complex has a bent-sandwich structure in which the [B12H11SCN]2– anion is located between the planes of two molecules 1 and is coordinated to both these molecules through B—H—Hg bridges and S—Hg bonds. The stability constants of complexes 4 and 5 in THF (20 °C), which were determined from the IR spectroscopic data, are 16 L mol–1 and 992 L2 mol–2, respectively.