Arenechromiumtricarbonyl complexes of silyl(germyl)(stannyl)- and silyl(germyl)(plumbyl)methanes including unexpected formation of arenechromiumtricarbonyldimethylsilanol, (eta-C(6)H(5))Cr(CO)(3)SiMe(2)OH.

Treatment of PhMe(2)SiCH(2)GeMe(3) (1) with t-BuLi followed by addition of Me(3)ECl, E = Sn, Pb, results in the formation of phenylsilyl(germyl)stannyl- and phenylsilyl(germyl)plumbyl-methanes, PhMe(2)Si(Me(3)Ge)(EMe(3))CH, E = Sn (2), Pb (3). The thermal reaction of 1, 2 and 3 with Cr(CO)(6) yields the corresponding aryl-Cr(CO)(3) analogs, {(eta(6)-C(6)H(5))Cr(CO)(3)}Me(2)Si(Me(3)Ge)CH(2) (4) and {(eta(6)-C(6)H(5))Cr(CO)(3)}Me(2)Si(Me(3)Ge)(EMe(3))CH, E = Sn (5), Pb (6). The thermal treatment of 2 with Cr(CO)(6) in wet THF/di-n-butyl ether mixture results in the formation of the arenechromiumtricarbonyl silanol {(eta(6)-C(6)H(5))Cr(CO)(3)}Me(2)SiOH (7) which exhibits amphiphilic character, forming H-bonded chains in the solid state in a head-to-head arrangement of the areneCr(CO)(3) units.