Cyclopentadienyliron dicarbonyl dimer
"Cyclopentadienyliron dicarbonyl dimer is an organometallic compound with the
formula (C5H5)2Fe2(CO)4, also abbreviated Cp2Fe2(CO)4. It is called Fp2 or "fip dimer." It is a dark reddish-purple crystalline solid, which is readily soluble in moderately polar organic solvents such as chloroform and pyridine, but less soluble in carbon tetrachloride and carbon disulfide. Cp2Fe2(CO)4 is insoluble in but stable toward water."
"In solution, Cp2Fe2(CO)4 can be considered a dimeric half sandwich complex. It exists in three isomeric forms: cis, trans, and unbridged. These isomeric forms are distinguished by the position of the ligands. Cis and trans differ in the relative position of C5H5 (Cp) ligands. And for both isomers, two CO ligands are terminal whereas the other two CO ligands bridge between the iron atoms. In the unbridged isomer, no ligands bridge between iron atoms — the metals are held together only by the Fe-Fe bond. Cis and trans isomers are the more abundant."
"The solid state of molecular structure of both cis and trans isomers have been analyzed by X-ray and neutron diffraction. The Fe-Fe separation and the Fe-C bond lengths are the same in the Fe2C2 rhomboids, an exactly planar Fe2C2 four-membered ring in the trans isomer versus a folded rhomboid in cis with an angle of 164°, and significant distortions in the Cp ring of trans isomer reflecting different Cp orbital populations."