A tetranuclear polyfunctional sodium–vanadium( III ) complex containing a vanadium( III )–vanadium( III ) double bond

Reduction of N,N′-o-phenylenebis(salicylideneiminato)chlorovanadium(III), [(thf)V(salophen)Cl](thf = tetrahydrofuran), with soidum metal caused the dimerization of two metallic moieties through two C–C bonds leading to a tetranucleating ligand binding two sodium cations and two vanadium(III) joined by a double bond [2.406(3)Å].