Bimetallics Spanned by Linear All-Inorganic Ligands: The Longest Inorganic, All- <i>sp</i> Chains

The construction of longer chains of <i>sp</i>-hybridized atoms, while relatively facile for carbon, is essentially unknown in the absence of carbon. Our recent results with the 1,3-haloboration of the [WNN] fragment of a Chatt-type complex are herein utilized in the synthesis of homo- and heterobimetallic complexes spanned by long all-inorganic <i>sp</i> chains. Notably, this includes structural confirmation of the longest <i>sp</i>-hybridized inorganic chain ever constructed, in a bimetallic complex with a six-atom all-<i>sp</i> {NNBBNN} bridging ligand.