Reactivity of early transition-metal phthalocyanine halide complexes: Synthesis and structures of oxo-niobium(V) and halo-zirconium(IV) "ate" phthalocyanine complexes

The hydrolysis reaction of PcNbCl 3 (Pc = phthalocyaninato) and PcNb(O i Pr) 3 produces the mu-oxo species [(PcNb) 2 (O)(μ-O) 2 ] (and some Nb 2 O 5 ), which was structurally characterized to reveal a dinuclear complex with two PcNb(V) units linked by two μ-oxo bridges; one of the Nb(V) centres has an additional terminal oxo ligand. [(PcNb) 2 (O)(μ-O) 2 ] has an overall butterfly-shaped structure, with a dihedral angle of 31.1 ° between the two Pc planes. Hydrolysis of PcZrCl 2 in THF generated