In attempts to bridge the complex [W(CO)
3(phen)(pyz)] (phen = 1,10-phenanthroline; pyz= pyrazine) to acceptor centers, either soft centers such as
cis-M(CO)
2Cl (M = Rh(I), Ir(I))and
fac-M(CO)
3Cl
2 (M = Ru(II), Os(II)) or hard centers such as BF
3, the pyrazine ligand islost, while the fragment W(CO)
3(phen) behaves as a
-donor base with the unexpectedformation of heteronuclear early-late bimetallic compounds with a weak metal-metal bond,as confirmed by the easy substitution of W(CO)
3(phen) by soft ligands (PPh
3, CO, pyridine).The X-ray structures of [(CO)
3(phen)W-
cis-Ir(CO)
2Cl] and [(CO)
3(phen)W-
fac-Os(CO)
3Cl
2]confirm a single metal-metal bond with an halogen bridging asymmetrically the two metallicmoieties and with the tungsten atom achieving a distorted (6 + 1) octahedral coordination.All the heteronuclear bimetallic complexes investigated show in their electronic spectra anew solvatochromic absorption band at around 385-450 nm in addition to the MLCT(W
*
phen) absorption band typical of [W(CO)
3(phen)L] complexes (L = CO, pyz, CH
3CN)and an increased, in comparison to [W(CO)
4(phen)], negative nonlinear (NLO) second-orderemission working with the EFISH technique with an incident wavelength of 1.907
m. Theincrease is due to an additional negative contribution of the new absorption band at around385-450 nm, as shown by a solvatochromic investigation.