Rubidium-Mediated Birch-Type Reduction of 1,2-Diphenylbenzene in Tetrahydrofuran

The reaction of 1,2-diphenylbenzene with rubidium metal in THF yields extremely sensitive and pyrophoric [η5-{1,2-diphenyl-2,5-cyclohexadienyl}rubidium]∞ (1). Compound 1 characterizes a possible intermediate in a Birch-type reaction and represents a very rare example of a fully characterized organorubidium complex as well as an open main-group metal pentadienide as part of a six-membered ring. In the solid state the rubidium atoms interact with the cyclohexadienyl moiety, whereas the coordination sphere of the soft cation is additionally stabilized exclusively by several metal π-arene interactions despite the presence of strongly coordinating donors. The bonding situation was elucidated by MP2/def2-TZVPP calculations including population analysis.