The group 7 metal carbonyl complexes from a stable heteroleptic silylene PhC(NtBu)2SiNPh2.

Two silylene transition metal complexes were prepared by reacting stable N-heterocyclic silylene L {L = PhC(NtBu)(2)SiNPh(2)}with Mn(2)(CO)(10) and Re(2)(CO)(10) respectively in a 2 : 1 ratio to yield [L(2)Mn(CO)(4)](+)[Mn(CO)(5)](-) (1) and [L(2)Re(CO)(4)](+)[Re(CO)(5)](-) (2). Both complexes and were characterized by NMR spectroscopy, EI-MS spectrometry and elemental analysis. The molecular structures of complexes 1 and 2 were established by single crystal X-ray analysis.