Otto J. Scherer was born in Amberg (Bavaria) in 1933, and studied chemistry at the Universities of Aachen (TU) and Munich (LMU, Dr. rer nat. 1962, supervisor Prof. Max Schmidt). He finished his Habilitation for Inorganic Chemistry in 1967 at the University of Wu ¨rzburg. In 1970 he was appointed full Professor at the new University in Kaiserslautern. He received the Alfred-Stock-Geda ¨chtnispreis of the German Chemical Society in 1994. His research interests are main-group chemistry as well as its combination with coordination chemistry.

The short-time cothermolysis of [{Cp‘‘‘(OC)2Fe}2](Fe−Fe) (1) and white phosphorus, P4, in toluene gives the butterfly complex [{Cp‘‘‘(OC)2Fe}2(μ-η1:η1-P4)] (2), Cp‘‘‘ = C5H2But 3-1,2,4, as the only product in 75% isolated yield. The open-edged exo/exo-P4 derivative 2 where one of the six P−P bonds of P4 has been selectively cleaved gives, on thermolysis, the sandwich complexes [Cp‘‘‘Fe(η5-P5)] (3) and [{Cp‘‘‘Fe}2 (μ-η4:η4-P4)] (4) with a cisoid P4 chain.

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Hexaphosphabenzene, P6, long a goal of chemical synthesis, has been obtained for the first time as a complex‐stabilized ligand. The triple‐decker sandwich complex 1 forms air‐stable, amber‐colored crystals. According to an X‐ray structure analysis, the aromatic P6 ring is planar and lies parallel to the two five‐membered rings.

Dedicated to Professor Max Schmidt on the occasion of his 65th birthday Until recently, phosphorus, arsenic, antimony and bismuth ligands were nearly always understood to be molecules such as R,E, R,E(CH,),ER,, and RC[(CH,),ER,],(E = P, As, Sb, Bi) in which the lone pair of the atom E functions as a 2e donor. Current research interests, however, increasingly involve substituent-free En ligands (n = 1 -6), the various types ofwhich are mainly accessible via EX, (X = F,CI,Br,Ph), E(SiMe,),, (RAs),, P,S,, As,S,, gray arsenic, and especially P, and As,; these ligands can be stabilized in the coordination spheres of certain transition metal fragments. P,, As, and Sb, units with multiple M-E bonds are found in bi-and trinuclear complexes; E, units can also be encapsulated (partially or completely) in cavities of a variety of metal cluster frameworks. Metallatetrahedranes with up to three E atoms are especially common. Besides E, units, the greatest variety of coordination modes is exhibited by E, ligands, which are found as intact tetrahedra and also as parts of chains, polycycles, cubes and a trigonal prism. The phosphorus and arsenic species cyclo-En, isoelectronic to the carbocyclic (CH), species, are suitable ligands for forming sandwich complexes (n = 3,4, 5) and triple-decker sandwich complexes (n = 3, 5, 6). In addition to the wide variety of chemical reactions, remarkable parallels are found in organic chemistry as well as in solid-state chemistry for many of these substance classes. Some of the molecules have received lively interest from theoretical chemists.