A study of the thermal and photochemical reactions of the group 6 metal carbonyls with organic polymer supports

The synthesis of organic polymers containing metal carbonyl moieties is described. The reaction of [Mo(CO)₄(bipy)] with poly-4-vinylpyridine proceeds smoothly to give [Mo(CO)₃(bipy)(poly-4-vinylpyridine)] which has a fac configuration. The thermal chemistry of a variety of polymer-bound metal carbonyl compounds is also presented, as is evidence for the formation of [W(CO)₄(poly-4-vinylpyridinestyrene)] from [W(CO)₅(poly-4-vinylpyridinestyrene)]. Included is evidence for the decarbonylation of polymer-bound metal compounds resulting in polymers which contain fully decarbonylated metal centres. Preliminary photochemical investigations indicate the generation of active coordinatively unsaturated metal carbonyl species in polymer matrices at low temperatures.