Ferrocene

Common card · No. 240258

Ferrocene is an organometallic compound with the formula Fe(C5H5)2. The molecule is a cyclopentadienyl complex consisting of two cyclopentadienyl rings sandwiching a central iron atom. It is an orange solid with a camphor-like odor that sublimes above room temperature, and is soluble in most organic solvents. It is remarkable for its stability: it is unaffected by air, water, or strong bases, and can be heated to 400 °C (752 °F) without decomposition. In oxidizing conditions it can reversibly react with strong acids to form the ferrocenium cation Fe(C5H5)+2. The first reported synthesis of ferrocene was in 1951. Its unusual stability puzzled chemists, and required the development of new theory to explain its formation and bonding. The discovery of ferrocene and its many structural analogues, known as metallocenes, sparked excitement and led to a rapid growth in the discipline of organometallic chemistry. Geoffrey Wilkinson and Ernst Otto Fischer, both of whom worked on elucidating the...

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