Acta Crystallographica Section E

Structure Reports Online

Volume 57, Part 9 (September 2001)

metal-organic compounds

Acta Cryst. (2001). E57, m413-m415 [ doi:10.1107/S1600536801013988 ]

2,4,6-Tris(1'-phenylthio-1-ferrocenyl)boroxin

D. H. Hua, J. W. McGill, P. D. Robinson and C. Y. Meyers

Abstract: The synthesis of 1'-phenylthio-1-ferroceneboronic acid resulted in its trimerization with the loss of three molecules of water to form crystalline 2,4,6-tris(1'-phenylthio-1-ferrocenyl)boroxin, C₄₈H₃₉B₃Fe₃O₃S₃ or [Fe₃(C₁₅H₁₂B₃O₃)(C₁₁H₉S)₃]. The asymmetric unit contains two boroxin molecules conjugated with the attached cyclopentadienyl rings to form an aromatic ring. The cyclopentadienyl rings of five of the six ferrocenes are in an eclipsed conformation; the cyclopentadienyl rings of the other ferrocene are in the gauche form. Hydrolysis of the boroxin ring with aqueous base apparently is needed to produce the corresponding boronic acid required in a Suzuki coupling reaction.