The coordination chemistry of selenophosphite ligands. Synthesis and characterization of heterometallic tetranuclear clusters [M{CpFe(CO)(2)P(Se)(OR)(2)}(3)](PF(6)) (M = Cu, Ag; R = (n)Pr, (i)Pr) and [Cu(mu-X) {CpFe(CO)(2)P(Se)(O(i)Pr)(2)}](2) (X = Cl, Br).

A neutral selenium donor ligand, [CpFe(CO)(2)P(Se)(OR)(2)] is used for the construction of Cu(I) and Ag(I) complexes with a well-defined coordination environment. Four clusters M{CpFe(CO)(2)P(Se)(OR)(2)}(3), (where M = Cu, R = (n)Pr, ; R = (i)Pr, and M = Ag, R = (n)Pr, ; R = (i)Pr, ) are isolated from the reaction of [M(CH(3)CN)(4)(PF(6))] (where M = Cu or Ag) and [CpFe(CO)(2)P(Se)(OR)(2)] in a molar ratio of 1 : 3 in acetonitrile at 0 degrees C. The reaction of [CpFe(CO)(2)P(Se)(O(i)Pr)(2)] with cuprous halides in acetone produce two mixed-metal, Cu(I)(2)Fe(II)(2) clusters, Cu(mu-X) {CpFe(CO)(2)P(Se)(O(i)Pr)(2)} (X = Cl, ; Br, ). All six clusters have been fully characterized spectroscopically ((1)H, (13)C, (31)P, and (77)Se NMR, IR), and by elemental analyses. X-Ray crystal structures of and consist of discrete cationic clusters in which three iron-selenophosphito fragments are linked to the central copper or silver atom via selenium atoms. Both clusters and crystallize in the noncentrosymmetric, hexagonal space group P6[combining macron]2c. The coordination geometry around the copper or silver atom is perfect trigonal-planar with Cu-Se and Ag-Se distances, 2.3505(7) and 2.5581(7) A, respectively. X-Ray crystallography also reveals that each copper center in neutral heterometallic clusters and is trigonally coordinated to two halide ions and a selenium atom from the selenophosphito-iron moiety. The structures can also be delineated as a dimeric unit which is generated by an inversion center and has a Cu(2)X(2) parallelogram core. The dihedral angle between the Cu(2)X(2) plane and the plane composed of Cp ring is found to be 24.62 and 84.58 degrees for compound and , respectively. Hence the faces of two opposite Cp rings are oriented almost perpendicular to the Cu(2)X(2) plane in , but are close to be parallel in . This is the first report of the coordination chemistry of the anionic selenophosphito moiety (RO)(2)PSe, the conjugated base of a secondary phosphine selenide, which acts as a bridging ligand with P-coordination on iron and Se-coordination to copper or silver.