Synthesis of planar five-connected nodal ligands.

Synthetic routes to a penta(4-pyridyl)cyclopentadienyl ligand are explored. The most successful route uses a palladium-catalysed pentapyridation of di(tert-butyl)phosphinoferrocene by using a procedure developed by Hartwig. The same method allows the synthesis of cyclopentadiene ligands substituted with 4-benzaldehydes or 4-phenylthiols. ne pyridine ligands are formally five-connected nodes that may be linked by linear coordination metals to give closed spherical complexes of composition [(metal)(30)(ligand)(12)] as shown by molecular modelling. Experiment shows that the ligand complexes copper(l) and silver(l) with the expected 1:2.5 stoichiometry, and the H-1 NMR spectrum of the resulting product shows the ligands to be equivalent. NMR diffusion and light-scattering measurements support the formation of a species with a hydrodynamic radius of the order of 45 A, in agreement with the modelling studies. The resulting complex would be topologically identical to the C-60 fullerene structure.