“…In 1994, Dixneuf and co-workers reported the synthesis of the first cationic complex with RuCCCCCPh 2 as the building block, [2] and a few months later we described the isolation of the first neutral compound with IrCCCCCPh 2 as the core unit. [3] In the meantime, the field of metallahexapentaenes [L x MC-( C) 4 RR'] has further been developed, mainly due to the work by Fischer et al [4] Earlier attempts to prepare metallapentatetraenes, that is compounds with n 3 in the above-mentioned formula, date back to Lomprey and Selegue [5] and somewhat later to Bruce and co-workers. [6] The latter group, by using [(h 5 -C 5 H 5 )Ru(PPh 3 ) 2 (thf)]PF 6 and buta-1,3-diyne as the starting materials, generated in situ a cationic complex containing the fragment Ru C C C CH 2 and supported the existence of this species by trapping reactions with nucleophiles such as NHPh 2 , PPh 3 , H 2 O, and imines.…”