Metal carbonyl 18-electron complexes is sometimes catalysed by catalytic amounts of oxidants, via electron-transfer. Metal carbonyls react with reducing agents such as metallic sodium or sodium amalgam to give carbonylmetalate (or carbonylate) anions: For iron pentacarbonyl, one obtains the tetracarbonylferrate with loss of CO: Mercury can insert into the metal-metal bonds of some polynuclear metal carbonyls: The CO ligand is often susceptible to attack by nucleophiles. For example, trimethylamine oxide and bistrimethylsilylamide convert CO ligands to CO and CN, respectively. In the "Hieber base reaction", hydroxide ion attacks the CO ligand to give a metallacarboxylic acid, followed by the release of carbon
Phenyl(trichloromethyl)mercury and Hg-C distances of 2.047 Å. Also known is bis(trichloromethyl)mercury, Hg(CCl). Phenyl(trichloromethyl)mercury Phenyl(trichloromethyl)mercury is an organomercury compound with the formula CHHgCCl. It is a white solid that is soluble in organic solvents. The compound is used as a source of dichlorocarbene, e.g. in cyclopropanation reactions, illustrated with tetrachloroethylene as a substrate, the product being hexachlorocyclopropane: The compound is prepared by treating phenylmercuric chloride with sources of dichlorocarbene. These include the base/haloform reaction and thermolysis of sodium trichloroacetate: Closely related compounds include phenyl(bromodichloromethyl)mercury (CAS registry number 3294-58-4) and phenyl(tribromomethyl)mercury (CAS registry number 3294-60-8). According to X-ray crystallography, the former has nearly