Cyclic and linear polyferrocenes with silicon and tin as alternating bridges

The synthesis and characterization of ferrocene-based oligomers that contained two different elements (Si and Sn) as alternating bridges is described for the first time. The salt-metathesis reaction of R(2) Si[(C(5) H(4) )Fe(C(5) H(4) Li)](2) (R=Me, Et) with R'(2) SnCl(2) (R'=Me, nBu, tBu) afforded a mixture of oligomers (6(Me) SnMe(2), 6(Et) SnMe(2), 6(Me) SnnBu(2), 6(Et) SnnBu(2), 6(Me) SntBu(2), and 6(Et) SntBu(2)). These oligomers were characterized by (1) H, (13) C, (29) Si, and (119) Sn NMR spectroscopy and by mass spectrometry. MS (MALDI-TOF) studies of 6(Et) SnMe(2) revealed the presence of linear (l) and cyclic (c) species that contained up to 20 ferrocene moieties. The molecular weights of the polymers were determined by gel-permeation chromatography (GPC) and by dynamic-light scattering (DLS). GPC analysis revealed average molecular weights of 2100-6300 Da with respect to polystyrene as a standard. DLS analysis yielded very similar results. Some compounds, c-(6(Me) SnMe(2) )(1), c-(6(Me) SntBu(2))(2), c-(6(Et) SnMe(2))(1), c-(6(Et) SntBu(2))(2), l-(6(Me) SnnBu(2) )(2), and l-(6(Me) SnnBu(2))(3), which contained up to six ferrocene moieties, were isolated in their pure form either by column chromatography or by crystallization. The Si- and Sn-bridged macrocycles that contained four ferrocene units (c-(6(Me) SntBu(2))(2) and c-(6(Et) SntBu(2))(2)) were structurally characterized by single-crystal X-ray analysis.