Synthesis, Structure, and Ligand-Based Reduction Reactivity of Trivalent Organosamarium Benzene Chalcogenolate Complexes (C5Me5)2Sm(EPh)(THF) and [(C5Me5)2Sm(μ-EPh)]2

To compare the ligand-based reduction chemistry of (EPh)(-) ligands in a metallocene environment to the sterically induced reduction chemistry of the (C(5)Me(5))(-) ligands in (C(5)Me(5))(3)Sm, (C(5)Me(5))(2)Sm(EPh) (E = S, Se, Te) complexes were synthesized and treated with substrates reduced by (C(5)Me(5))(3)Sm: cyclooctatetraene; azobenzene; phenazine. Reactions of PhEEPh with (C(5)Me(5))(2)Sm(THF)(2) and (C(5)Me(5))(2)Sm produced THF-solvated monometallic complexes, (C(5)Me(5))(2)Sm(EPh)(THF), and their unsolvated dimeric analogues, [(C(5)Me(5))(2)Sm(mu-EPh)](2), respectively. Both sets of the paramagnetic benzene chalcogenolate complexes were definitively identified by X-crystallography and form homologous series. Only the (TePh)(-) complexes show reduction reactivity and only upon heating to 65 degrees C.