Reactions of isocyanide complexes of Palladium(II) and Platinum(II) with azetidine: synthesis of acyclic diaminocarbene derivatives and X-Ray structure of [PdCl(PMe2Ph)(CH2CH2CH2NH){C(NCH2CH2CH2)NHC6H4OMe-p}]Cl*CH2Cl2

Azetidine reacts in tetrahydrofuran (thf) at room temperature or below with the co-ordinated RNC ligand in each of the neutral cis-[MCl2(PPh3)(CNR)][M = Pd or Pt; R = C6H4OMe-p or But) and cationic trans-[MCl(PPh3)2(CNC6H4OMe-p)]BF4(M = Pd or Pt) complexes to form the corresponding derivatives containing the acyclic diaminocarbene moiety M–C([graphic omitted]H2)NHR. Azetidine reacts also with the bis(isocyanide) complexes cis-[PdCl2(CNR)2](R = But or C6H4OMe-p) converting one (R = But) or two (R = C6H4OMe-p) isocyanide ligands into acyclic carbenes.