Chemistry of transition-metal clusters with mixed Sb/S ligands: Evidence for a terminal Sb=S double bond in Cp*3Rh3Sb2S5 (Cp*=C5Me5)

The reaction of [Cp2*Rh2Cl4] (Cp*=C5Me5) with a slight excess of K3SbS3 in boiling THF gave the neutral clusters [Cp*4Rh4S5], [Cp*3Rh3Rb2S5], and after salt metathesis [Cp*3Rh3SbSn]PF6 (3; n=5 and 6). The reaction provides the evidence for the existence of a stable Sb=S double bind being integrated in the novel [SbS4](super 4-) ligand in the trirhodium cluster [Cp*3Rh3Rb2S5].