Electron‐Electron/Spin‐Spin Long‐Range Interaction as Studied in the Diradical Dication [Di{bis(dimethylphosphino‐η6‐benzene)chromium(I)}‐nickel(0)]

The coupling of prototypic building blocks of modern coordination chemistry, of the bis(arene)metal sandwich and the NiP4-tetrahedron, has been accomplished in the title compound 1. According to an X-ray structure analysis 1 contains two bis(arene)-chromium units separated by 8.49 Å; the ring–metal–ring axes are perpendicular to each other. The longe-range dipole–dipole interaction manifests itself in the ESR spectrum on 1.+.+ by a half-field signal (ΔMs = 2).