Octahedral metal carbonyls. 71. Kinetics and mechanism of benzene displacement from photogenerated (.eta.2-benzene)chromium pentacarbonyl

Pulsed laser flash photolysis of Cr(CO) 6 in Cr(CO) 6 /benzene/L solutions (L=piperidine, 1-hexene, pyridine) affords as the predominant reaction species [(η 2 -benzene)Cr(CO) 5 ] in which benzene is coordinated to Cr via an «isolated» C=C bond; reacts with L on the microsecond time scale to afford LCr(CO) 5 products