[Pb{Mn(CO)5}3][AlCl4]: a lead-manganese carbonyl with AlCl4-linked PbMn3 clusters.

[Pb{Mn(CO)5}3][AlCl4] containing a trigonal planar PbMn3 cluster was obtained by the reaction of PbCl2 and Mn2(CO)10 in the ionic liquid [BMIm][AlCl4]. The title compound is composed of [Pb{Mn(CO)5}3]+ carbonyl cations and [AlCl4]- anions that are connected to infinite zig-zag chains. The [Pb{Mn(CO)5}3]+ cation exhibits a central PbMn3 cluster with three equal Pb-Mn single bonds, resulting in an almost equilateral triangle of three manganese atoms with a formal Pb+I in its center. Such a cluster and compound were identified for the first time. In addition to single-crystal structure analysis, the composition, structure and properties were further characterized by density functional theory (DFT) calculations, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), as well as optical spectroscopy (UV-Vis).