Crystal structures of [(N,N-di-methyl-amino)-meth-yl]ferrocene and (R (p),R (p))-bis-{2-[(di-methyl-amino)-meth-yl]ferrocen-yl}di-methyl-silane.

The title compound [(N,N-di-methyl-amino)-meth-yl]ferrocene, [Fe(C(5)H(5))(C(8)H(12)N)], (1), is an inter-esting starting material for the synthesis of planar chiral 1,2-disubstituted ferrocenes, as demonstrated by the preparation of (R (p),R (p))-bis-{2-[(di-methyl-amino)-meth-yl]ferrocen-yl}di-methyl-silane, [Fe(2)(C(5)H(5))(2)(C(18)H(18)N(2)Si)], (2), from the li-thia-ted derivative of 1. The configuration of the lithium compound is unchanged after the substitution reaction and the chirality is preserved in space group P2(1)2(1)2(1). In both compounds, the Cp rings adopt eclipsed conformations. Hirshfeld surface analysis was used to investigate the inter-molecular inter-actions, and showed that H⋯H (van der Waals) inter-actions dominate in both structures with contact percentages of 83.9 and 88.4% for 1 and 2, respectively.