Magnesium(I) Reduction of Aluminum(III) Hydride Complexes: Generation of Mixed Valence Aluminum (AlI/Al0) Hydride Cluster Compounds, [Al6H8(NR3)2{Mg(β‐diketiminate)}4]**
Abstract
Reduction of a range of amido‐ and aryloxy‐aluminum dihydride complexes, e.g. [AlH2(NR3){N(SiMe3)2}] (NR3=NMe3 or N‐methylpiperidine (NMP)), with β‐diketiminato dimagnesium(I) reagents, [{(ArNacnac)Mg}2] (ArNacnac=[HC(MeCNAr)2]−, Ar=mesityl (Mes) or 2,6‐xylyl (Xyl)), have afforded deep red mixed valence aluminum hydride cluster compounds, [Al6H8(NR3)2{Mg(ArNacnac)}4], which have an average Al oxidation state of +0.66, the lowest for any well‐defined aluminum hydride compound. In the solid‐state, the clusters are shown to have distorted octahedral Al6 cores, having zero‐valent Al axial sites and mono‐valent AlH2− equatorial units. Several novel by‐products were isolated from the reactions that gave the clusters, including the Mg−Al bonded magnesio‐aluminate complexes, [(ArNacnac)(Me3N)Mg−Al(μ‐H)3[{Mg(ArNacnac)}2(μ‐H)]]. Computational analyses of one aluminum hydride cluster revealed its Al6 core to be electronically delocalized, and to possess one unoccupied, and six occupied, skeletal molecular orbitals.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Jun 15, 2023
- Source ID
- 10.1002/anie.202305582
Entities
People
- Alison Edwards
- Cameron Jones
- Dafydd D L Jones
- Deepak Dange
- Iker del Rosal
- K Yuvaraj
- Laurent Maron
- Ross O Piltz
- Sneha Mullassery
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
- Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
- Australian Research Council
- Monash University
- University of Toulouse (1896-1968)