New, simple synthetic route to functional mono- and biferrocenes.

Visible-light photolysis using a simple 100 W lamp of the readily available precursors [(eta(5)-C(5)H(4)R)Fe(eta(6)-toluene)][PF(6)] (R = H, Me, Cl, COMe, CO(2)H, CO(2)Me, CO(2)CH(2)CCH, CONHCH(2)Ph, NHCH(2)Ph), or the bimetallic precursor [(mu(2),eta(5),eta'(5)-Fv)Fe(2)(eta(6)-toluene)(2)][PF(6)](2) (Fv = fulvalene) in the presence of a substituted cyclopentadienyl salt C(5)H(4)R'M (R' = COCH(3), CO(2)CH(3), PPh(2), SiMe(2)CH(2)Cl; M = Li or Na) or the dicyclopentadienyl salt 1,4-C(6)H(4)(CH(2)C(5)H(4))(2)Na(2) in dichloromethane, acetonitrile, or tetrahydrofuran under ambient conditions selectively yields 15 functional mono- and biferrocenes.