First alkyl radical additions to (eta(6)-arene)tricarbonylmanganese complexes

[reaction: see text] Reactions of alkylmercury chlorides with arene manganese tricarbonyl complexes in the presence of NaI led to the formation of the addition-reduction products. The mechanism was postulated to be the alkyl radical addition to ArMn(CO)3+ cation to form the corresponding 17 valence electron intermediate, which was then reduced by alkylmercury chloride via a singlet electron transfer process to afford the product and regenerate an alkyl radical.