title: Carbonylchromium derivatives of bismuth: new syntheses and relevance to cbond;o activation.
abstract: We have discovered a series of novel pentacarbonylchromium derivatives of bismuth from the reactions of NaBiO(3) with [Cr(CO)(6)] in KOH/MeOH solutions. When the reaction was carried out at room temperature, the highly charged [Bi[Cr(CO)(5)](4)](3-) (1) was obtained, whose structure was shown by X-ray analysis to possess a central bismuth atom tetrahedrally coordinated to four [Cr(CO)(5)] groups. As the reaction was heated at 80 degrees C, the methyl-substituted complex [MeBi[Cr(CO)(5)](3)](2-)(2) was obtained, presumably via the CbondO activation of MeOH. Further reactions of 1 with CH(2)Cl(2) or CHtbondCCH(2)Br form the halo-substituted complexes [XBi[Cr(CO)(5)](3)](2-)(X=Cl, 3; Br, 4), respectively. On the other hand, the reactions of 1 with RI (R=Me, Et) led to the formation of the alkyl-substituted complexes [RBi[Cr(CO)(5)](3)](2-)(R=Me, 2; Et). The formation of complexes 1-4 is discussed, presumably via the intermediate bismuthinidene [Bi[Cr(CO)(5)](3)](-) or the trianion [Bi[Cr(CO)(5)](3)](3-).