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Abstract Herein, we report the synthesis of a sterically distorted distibene ( 4 2 ) and its transition‐metal‐like reactivity towards two fundamental feedstock chemicals: H 2 and ethylene. Although 4 2 exhibits an unusually long Sb=Sb distance and noticeable backbone distortion in the solid state, NMR data suggest that 4 2 remains predominantly as a dimer in solution, even at high temperatures. However, it was proposed that the elusive reactivity of 4 2 toward H 2 and ethylene results from reversible dissociation of 4 2 into the transient stibinidene ( 4 ), which could be observed by NMR spectroscopic techniques.
Pang et al. (Fri,) studied this question.