Di([5]trovacenyl)ethyne, di([5]trovacenyl)butadiyne, and di-1,4-([5]trovacenylethynyl)benzene: electrocommunication and magnetocommunication mediated by --C triple bond C--, --C triple bond C--C triple bond C-- and --C triple bond C--C6H4--C triple bond C-- spacers.

The synthesis of dinuclear derivatives of trovacene (eta7-C7H7)V(eta5-C5H5) (1.) is reported, in which ethynyl (6..), butadiynyl (7..), and 1,4-di(ethynyl)phenyl (8..) groups serve as spacers between paramagnetic (S = 1/2) [5]trovacenyl units. The mononuclear precursors [5]trovacenylcarbaldehyde (2.) and [5]trovacenylacetylene (4.) are also described. Structural characterization by X-ray diffraction has been performed for 4., 6.., 7.., and 8.. Electronic communication as gleaned from cyclic voltammetry only manifests itself in the reduction processes where redox splitting deltaE1/2(0/ 1-, 1-/2-) is resolved for 6.. (deltaE1/2 = 150 mV) and indicated for 7.. (deltaE1/2 < or approximately 80 mV). Magnetocommunication leads to exchange coupling of the two electron spins which reside in vanadium centered orbitals. The values JEPR(6..) = (-)0.92, JEPR(7..) = (-)0.56, and JEPR(8..) = (-)0.005 cm(-1) are derived from the 51V hyperfine patterns. Accordingly, attenuation of exchange interaction by oligoalkyne spacers is weak, corresponding to a factor of 0.6 only per added --C triple bond C-- unit. In the determination of very weak long distance exchange interactions, EPR excels because of the range 5 x 10(-4) < or approximately J < or approximately 1.5 cm(-1) accessible in the case of 51V as a reporting magnetic nucleus and because competing intermolecular exchange is quenched in dilute fluid solution. This is demonstrated by the value Jchi(7..) = -3.84 cm(-1) obtained from a magnetic susceptibility study, which exceeds JEPR(7..) by a factor of 7. The small magnitude of spin exchange interaction between trovacene units reflects the fact that the spin bearing V3dz2 orbital is virtually orthogonal to the pi-perimeter ligand orbitals and weakly overlapping only with the a1g(sigma) ring orbitals, creating two bottlenecks for spin-exchange in the spacer-containing ditrovacenes.