Reactions at mild temperatures of the acetonitrile adducts [M(CO)
3(NCMe)
3] (M = Mo (
1), W (
2))with various substituted cyclopentadienes in THF give the hydrido derivatives [MH{
5-C
5R
4Si(CH
3)
2-(CH
2CH=CH
2)}(CO)
3] (M = Mo, R = H (
5a), R = CH
3 (
6), M = W, R = H (
7a), R = CH
3 (
8a)) and[MoH{
5-C
5R
4R'}(CO)
3] (R = CH
3, R' = H (
16); R = H, R' = SiMe
3 (
17)) in isolated yields of60-70%. THF solutions of derivatives
5a,
7a, and
8a undergo isomerization of the cyclopentadienyl-tethered-allyl unit to give the corresponding methyl-vinyl-dimethylsilyl-
5-cyclopentadienyl hydridocompounds [MH{
5-C
5R
4Si(CH
3)
2(CH=CHCH
3)}(CO)
3] (M = Mo, R = H (
5b), M = W, R = H (
7b),R = CH
3 (
8b)) in final
a:
b ratios of ca. 2:1, 2:1, and 1:1, respectively. Solvent polarity seems to becrucial in these transformations. Dehydrogenation and desilylation of
5a in THF solutions to give thedinuclear derivative [Mo{
5-C
5H
4Si(CH
3)
2(CH
2CH=CH
2)}(CO)
3]
2 (
9) and [MoH(
5-C
5H
5)(CO)
3] (
15),respectively, are processes competitive with the allyl isomerization. Treatment of
5a and
7a with equimolaramounts of ONMe
3 permits isolation of pure compound
9 and [W{
5-C
5H
4Si(CH
3)
2(CH
2CH=CH
2)}(CO)
3]
2 (
10) in isolated yields of 80-90%. Coordination of the olefin pendant unit to the metal was detectable only by reaction of
5a and
7a with [CPh
3][B(C
6F
5)
4] to give the cationic species [M{
5-C
5H
4Si-(CH
3)
2(CH
2CH=CH
2)}(CO)
3][B(C
6F
5)
4] (M = Mo (
18), W (
19)). Molecular structure determinations byX-ray diffraction methods for derivatives
8a and
9 are also reported.