Production of alkali metal cyclopentadienylides and production of dihalobis(eta-substituted-cyclopentadienyl) zirconium from alkali metal cyclopentadienylides

摘要

A process for producing an alkali metal cyclopentadienylide of formula (II):wherein each of R¹ and R², which are the same or different, is C₁-C₈ alkyl, C₆-C₁₀ aryl, C₂-C₈ alkenyl or C₇-C₉ aralkyl; R³ is hydrogen or C₁-C₃ alkyl; and M⁺ is an alkali metal ion;which process comprises reacting together, in a solvent, an alkali metal hydride and a 1,3-cyclopentadiene of formula (I)wherein R¹, R² and R³ are as defined above. The alkali metal cyclopentadienylide produced may be further reacted with a zirconium halide to form a dihalobis (η-substituted-cyclopentadienyl)zirconium in good yield.