A family of Group 4 metal alkoxo complexes with an M3(mu3-O) core relevant to Ziegler-Natta catalyst intermediates.

Reactions of [Mg(thffo)(2)] (1) or [Ca(thffo)(2)] (2) with ZrCl(4) or HfCl(4) in a CH(2)Cl(2)/THF/CH(3)CN mixture give thermally stable neutral heterobimetallic tetranuclear complexes [M(3)M'(mu(x)-O)(mu,eta(2)-thffo)(6)(Cl)(6)] (thffo=tetrahydrofurfuroxide; M/M'/x: 3, Zr/Mg/3; 4, Hf/Mg/3; 5, Zr/Ca/4; 6, Hf/Ca/4) as colorless crystals in 75-82 % yield. X-ray diffraction studies show complexes 3-5 to contain oxo-bridged M(3) triangles that are capped by an alkaline earth metal-containing moiety to form species of C(3) symmetry. Reactions of ZrCl(4) and HfCl(4) with pure tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol in EtOH and MeOH provide ionic complexes [M(3)(mu(3)-O)(mu,eta(2)-thffo)(3)(L)(3)(Cl)(6)]Cl (M/L: 8, Zr/EtOH; 9, Hf/EtOH; 10, Zr/MeOH) in 66-79 % yield. Complexes 8-10 consist of M(3) triangles that are analogous to those in 3-6 and possess similar overall symmetry, as shown by X-ray crystallography. Changes in the reaction conditions afforded the asymmetric neutral dimer [Zr(2)(mu-thffo)(2)(thffoH)(Cl)(6)] (7) and the homometallic [Zr(3)(mu(3)-O)(mu,eta(2)-thp)(3)(thf)(2)(Cl)(7)] (11).