On the coordination chemistry of corannulene, the smallest buckybowl

A variety of methods, conventional and non-conventional, are used in attempts to prepare the compounds (eta(6)-corannulene)M(CO)(3) (M = Cr, Mo, W), all unsuccessful. Conventional methods are also utilized in attempts to prepare the compound [CpFe(eta(6)-corannulene)]PF6, but these result in mixtures of cationic CpFe(arene) complexes containing partially hydrogenated corannulene; similar results have been reported for other polyaromatic hydrocarbons. DFT calculations on the compound (eta(6)- corannulene)Cr(CO)(3) suggest that the (eta(6)-corannulene)-Cr linkage is only a few kcal/mol weaker than the corresponding bond in (eta(6)-benzene) Cr(CO)(3), implying that failures in syntheses arise from kinetic, not thermodynamic problems. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.