Elegant approach to spacer arranged silagermylene and bis(germylene) compounds

Abstract

Herein we report on the reactions of the stable LSiCl (1) and LGeCl (2) [L = PhC(NtBu)₂] with L¹Ge, [L¹ = CH{(CCH₂)(CMe)(2,6-iPr₂C₆H₃N)₂}] (3) to yield 1-sila-5-germylene (4) and a 1,5-bis(germylene) (5). The reactions proceed through the 1,4 nucleophilic addition of the M–Cl (M = Si or Ge) to 3 without any modification of the oxidation state although the change of the oxidation state is thermodynamically more favorable. Compounds 4 and 5 were investigated by single crystal X-ray structural analyses, multi-nuclear NMR spectroscopy, and micro-analysis. Treatment of L¹AlMe·thf (6) with 1 resulted in the formation of the 1-sila-5-aluminium complex (7). The complex contains a Si(II) and an Al(III) atom in the molecule. All reported reactions proceed without changing the oxidation states at the metal centers.