The ultrafast solvation and rearrangement dynami
cs following the photolysis of M(CO)
6(M = Cr, Mo, W) in terminal alkyne solutions have been investigated. Upon photoinitiatedloss of a ligand from the parent metal hexa
carbonyl,
coordination to an alkyne solventmole
cule is followed by rearrangement to a
complex that is bound to the terminal alkynesite in a
![](/images/gif<font color=)
chars/pi.gif" BORDER=0 >-bonded fashion. This rearrangement o
ccurs on a time s
cale that is anti
correlatedwith the metal-ligand binding energy. A disso
ciative rearrangement is ruled out for thispro
cess in favor of an asso
ciative or inter
change me
chanism. Previous theoreti
cal andexperimental studies are examined, and we
con
clude that the ultimate rearrangement to avinylidene spe
cies is energeti
cally ina
ccessible at ambient temperatures on the femtose
condto millise
cond time s
cale.