1-(Diphenylphosphino)-2-(dimethylamino)indene (
2c) has been prepared in 61% yield andupon exposure to Al
2O
3 is mostly isomerized to 3-(diphenylphosphino)-2-(dimethylamino)indene (
2d) (
2c:
2d 1:3); similarly, 1-(diisopropylphosphino)-2-(dimethylamino)indene (
2a)is only partially converted to the corresponding C3 isomer (
2b) upon treatment with Al
2O
3(
2a:
2b 3:1). In contrast, 1-(diisopropylphosphino)indene (
6a) has been prepared in 92%yield and is easily converted to 3-(diisopropylphosphino)indene (
6b) on passing over Al
2O
3;0.5 equiv of [(
4-COD)RhCl]
2 and
6b combine to give [(
1-
P-
6b)(
4-COD)RhCl] (
7) in 79%yield. Treatment of either 2-(dimethylamino)indene (
1) or
6b with a stoichiometric amountof
n-BuLi, followed by the addition of 0.5 equiv of [(
4-COD)RhCl]
2, produces the (
5-indenyl)rhodium(I) complexes
8 (53% yield) and
9 (88% yield), respectively, in which the pnictogendonor is apparently not coordinated to the rhodium center. When 2.5 equiv of
n-BuLi iscombined with
6b and subsequently treated with 0.5 equiv of [(
4-COD)RhCl]
2,
9 is alsoproduced, along with a small amount of the unusual Rh
2Li
2 species
10. The crystallographically determined structures of
2d,
3·C
6H
6,
7, and
10·C
7H
8 are reported.