Thermal and photochemical analysis of bimetallic Bi-Mo and Bi-W carbonyl complexes

Abstract

We investigated the thermal behavior of bimetallic Bi-Mo and Bi-W carbonyl complexes, [Mo(CO)(5)(BiPh3)] and [W(CO)(5)(BiPh3)] respectively, to understand the mechanism of decomposition. TGA-DTA, TGA-MS, FTIR, powder XRD and EDX were used to analyze these compounds at different temperatures. At elevated temperature (-150 degrees C) loss of the M(CO)(5) (M = Mo, W) group occurs first, followed by the loss of phenyl groups at -300 degrees C, resulting in the formation of yellow Bi2O3 in presence of air. Additionally, we studied the photochemical behavior of these bimetallic Bi-Mo and Bi-W carbonyl complexes. UV irradiation of these compounds caused the loss of the metal carbonyl, resulting in the formation of BiPh3.