Reaction of the carbanions derived from chloromethyl phenyl sulfone or 1 -chloroethyl phenyl sulfone with the cationic [Fe(arene)Cp] complexes 8 or 9 produced isolable c-adducts 10-12. Attempted base induced elimination of the s̀-adducts, which would have led to products of vicarious nucleophilic substitution (VNS reaction), failed. Similarly, no VNS products were obtained, when the (arene)tricarbonylchromium complexes 4 were reacted with the anion of chloromethyl phenyl sulfone.