Quest for diatomic selenium

Metallocene pentaselenides and elemental selenium were employed in an effort to generate diatomic selenium (Se2) under thermal conditions. Trapping experiments were carried out with six dienes. A successful formation of a diselenium adduct was observed in the case of 5,6-dimethylene-cyclohexa-1,3-diene (1a). The other dienes produced the corresponding dihydroselenophenes. The in-depth study of the limitations of our method to generate Se2 is described; a plausible mechanism rationalizing the observed results is proposed.