Synthesis and reactivity of arenes coordinated to cyclopentadienyliron cations

Over the past few decades, there has been tremendous interest in the chemistry of arenes coordinated to transition metal moieties due to their applications in the fields of organic and polymer synthesis. The electrophilicity of coordinated arenes allows for reactions with a number of carbon-, oxygen-, nitrogen- and sulfur-containing nucleophiles. This review describes the synthesis and reactivity of both mono- and polyiron arene complexes, Spectroscopic and electrochemical methods for the characterization of these coordination compounds are presented. The important synthetic applications of arene cyclopentadienyliron complexes are also described. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.