Assembly of bicyclic or monocyclic clusters from [(η5-C5Me5)2Mo2(μ3-S)4(CuMeCN)2]2+ with tetraphosphine or N,P mixed ligands: syntheses, structures and enhanced third-order NLO performances.

Reactions of the preformed cluster [(η(5)-C(5)Me(5))(2)Mo(2)(μ(3)-S)(4)Cu(2)(MeCN)(2)](ClO(4))(2) (1) with two tetraphosphine ligands, 1,4-N,N,N',N'-tetra(diphenylphosphanylmethyl)benzene diamine (dpppda) and N,N,N',N'-tetra(diphenylphosphanylmethyl)ethylene diamine (dppeda), produced two bicyclic clusters {[(η(5)-C(5)Me(5))(2)Mo(2)(μ(3)-S)(4)Cu(2)](2)(L)}(ClO(4))(4) (3: L = dpppda; 4: L = dppeda). Analogous reactions of 1 or [(η(5)-C(5)Me(5))(2)Mo(2)(μ(3)-S)(4)Cu(2)(MeCN)(2)](PF(6))(2) (2) with two N,P mixed ligands, N,N-bi(diphenylphosphanylmethyl)-2-aminopyridine (bdppmapy) and N-diphenylphosphanylmethyl-4-aminopyridine (dppmapy), afforded two monocyclic clusters {[(η(5)-C(5)Me(5))(2)Mo(2)(μ(3)-S)(4)Cu(2)](2)(L)(2)}X(4) (5: L = bdppmapy, X = ClO(4); 6: L = dppmapy, X = PF(6)). Compounds 3-6 were fully characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectra, UV-vis spectra, (1)H and (31)P{(1)H} NMR spectra, ESI-MS and single-crystal X-ray crystallography. In the tetracations of 3-6, two cubane-like [Mo(2)(μ(3)-S)(4)Cu(2)] cores are linked either by one dpppda or dppeda bridge to form a bicyclic structure or by a pair of bdppmapy or dppmapy bridges to afford a monocyclic structure. The third-order nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of 1 and 3-6 in MeCN were also investigated by femtosecond degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM) technique with a 50 fs pulse width at 800 nm. Compounds 3-6 exhibited enhanced third-order NLO performances relative to that of 1.