Nuclear recoil reactions in organomanganese compounds. IV. Fulvalenehexacarbonyldimanganese

The chemical effects of neutron capture have been studied in fulvalenehexacarbonyldimanganese, in order to determine whether or not the ring–ring bond survives nuclear recoil. Retention in the parent form (9.1 %) is comparable to that in other organomanganese compounds, while the radiochemical yield of CpMn(CO)3, the "monomer", is very much lower (0.2%). This suggests that the inter-ring bond is not broken under the conditions in the reaction zone. The formation of radiomanganese compounds with several carbonyl ligands (4.7%) is in accord with mass spectrometric evidence, which suggests that CO may be readily available in the reaction zone.