How Electrophilic are Ferrocenylmethyl Cations? Kinetics of their Reactions with Nucleophiles and Hydride Donors

Second-order rate constants for the reactions of the ferrocenylmethylium ions 2a - e with silyl enol ethers, allylsilanes, allylstannanes, and hydride donors have been determined photometrically and conductometrically in dichloromethane. The ferrocenylmethylium ions 2a - d (fc-CHR+, R = H, Me, Ph, An) are slightly stronger electrophiles than the tropylium ion, and their electrophilic reactivities depend only slightly on the nature of R. The bis(ferrocenyl)methylium ion 2e is a considerably weaker electrophile, comparable to the tricarbonyl(cyclohexadienyl)iron cation