Hydrolysis of tert-Butyl and Phenyl Ferrocenyldichlorogermanes: Characterization of Di-tert-butyldiferrocenyldigermoxanediol and 1,3,5-Triphenyl-1,3,5-triferrocenylcyclotrigermoxane

The hydrolysis of ferrocenyl- tert -butyldichlorogermane (Fc( t -Bu)GeCl 2, 1a, Fc = ( η 5 -C 5 H 5 )Fe( η 5 -C 5 H 4 )) resulted in the formation of the digermoxanediol [Fc( t -Bu)(HO)Ge] 2 O ( 2 ), which in the solid state forms intermolecularly hydrogen-bonded dimeric 2a or double-chain 2b, structures dependent upon the solvent used for recrystallization. By contrast, similar hydrolysis of ferrocenylphenyldichlorogermane (FcPhGeCl 2, 1b ) led to the formation of the cis and trans isomers of (FcPhGeO) 3 ( 3a and 3b ) as a 1:4 ratio mixture, respectively. The cis isomer, 3a, can be converted to the thermodynamically more stable trans isomer, 3b . The molecular structures of 2a, 2b, 3a, and 3b have been determined by X-ray diffraction analysis.