NEWS OF THE WEEK BANKRUPTCY
SOLUTIA HAS A PLAN Most but not all parties agree on a way to get the company back on track
S
OLUTIA HAS FILED A PLAN OF
reorganization with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The plan funds retiree benefits, although at a reduced rate; has a provision to fund environmental remediation costs split between Solutia and former parent Monsanto; and assigns toxic tort litigation responsibility to Monsanto. Solutia CEOJeffry N. Quinn confidently predicts that "this plan of reorganization will enable Solutia to emerge from Chapter 11 later this year with an improved competitive position." Increasing the chances that Solutia could soon be free from court supervi-
sion is the fact that the plan has the support of not only Monsanto but also that of unsecured creditors and retirees. However, two groups have initiated legal challenges that could delay resolution of Solutia's bankruptcy case, which is more than two years old. Investment banking firm J P Morgan, trustee for $455 million worth of Solutia bonds, contends that Solutia should treat those bonds as secured debt. If J P Morgan prevails in a case filed about a year ago, bondholders would recover 100 cents on the dollar instead of the 48 cents to 56 cents in the plan documents. Current shareholders, who
O R G A N O M E T A L L I C S
CYCLOPENTADIENYL SUPERLIGAND DEBUTS Ligand core with pendant metal complexes opens door to new chemical explorations
T
HE F I R S T SYNTHESIS OF
metal cyclopentadienyl (Cp) complexes substituted with five other metal-Cp groups has been accomplished by K. Peter C. Vollhardt of the University of California, Berkeley, and coworkers (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., published online Feb. 10, dx.doi. org/10.1002/anie.200504047). These "super Cp" complexes are of interest for fundamental studies and are expected to function as magnetic and electronic materials and as catalytic "minisurfaces." Vollhardt's group previously made the pentacyclopentadienyl-substituted manganese complex (C 5 H 4 ) 5 C 5 Mn(CO) 3 . WWW.CEN-0NLINE.ORG
But the researchers' attempts to metalate the radial Cp substituents failed. After some trial and error, the team has now devised a strategy to directly add metalCp groups to the C 5 Mn(CO) 3 core. For example, reaction of (C5I5)Mn(CO)3 with five equivalents of (CpFeC^H^Zn produces the ferrocenyl-substituted complex (CpFeC5H4)5C5Mn(CO)3. In subsequent chemistry, Vollhardt's group was able to "anneal" some of the pendant Cp groups together by eliminating some of the metal atoms and thereby forming complex fused-ring systems. The researchers were able to "liberate" the ferrocenyl complex by UV irra-
stand to lose their entire investment in Solutia, also have a beef. When it spun off from Monsanto in 1997, Solutia acquired all of Monsanto's legacy retiree and environmental obligations along with its chemical businesses. Shareholders contend that these obligations set up the firm for failure. Solutia's equity committee filed suit against Monsanto last year, and the wrangling could further delay Solutia's reorganization. Still to come is a court hearing on the plan, approval from claim holders, and confirmation from the court before Solutia emerges from bankruptcy. "We expect some objections," a Solutia spokesman says, "but we hope to drive this thing through."—MARC REISCH
MOPPING UP Bankruptcy reorganization means funds will be available to clean up areas tainted by polychlorinated biphenyls in Anniston, Ala.
diation to form (CpFeC5H4)5C5R, where R represents hydrogen or a phenoxy group. Minus the manganese tricarbonyl group, these compounds have considerably less structural strain and are amenable to further chemistry, such as protonation of the core C5 ring to form a cyclopentenyl cation. Synthesis of the pentaferrocenylcyclopentadiene is "just amazing," remarks Guy Bertrand of the University of California, Riverside. "I am quite convinced that very unusual chemistry will be found with these molecules." Henning Hopf of the Technical University of Braunschweig, in Germarry, is similarly enthused. The synthesis of this super Cp, he says, opens the door to "exciting structural work, the study ofnew physical and chemical properties, and further chemical transformations." This type of curiosity-driven research is what makes applied research possible, he adds.—STEVE RITTER C&EN
STARBURST Ferrocene-substituted cyclopentadienyl metal complex (CpFeC5Hj5C5Mn(C0)3 takes popular Cp ligands to a new level (green = Fe, purple = Mn, red = 0). /
FEBRUARY
20,
2006
9
