The
pre
paration and characterization of[Cr(CO)
2L(
-C
6Me
6)](L = PEt
3, PPh
3,P(OEt)
3and P(OPh)
3, are re
ported. One-electron oxidationaffords unstable Cr(I) cations,[Cr(CO)
2L(
-C
6Me
6)]
+, EPR s
pectraof which are re
ported. Detailed analysis of the anisotro
pic
31Phy
perfine interaction indicates that, in frozenCH
2Cl
2/THF, the
phos
phine and
phos
phitecom
plexes have
2A' and
2A'' ground states,res
pectively. The hy
perfine anisotro
py can beaccounted for by di
polar interaction of the
31P nucleuswith s
pin density on Cr and, in thecase of the
phos
phite com
plexes, with ~0.01 P3
py s
pin density resulting from
pi.gif" BORDER=0 >-backbonding.Line width anomalies observed in EPR s
pectra of these and otherCr(I) and Mn(II) "
pianostool" com
plexes can be understood in terms of molecular distortionsresulting from solvationin frozen solutions.