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halide abstraction from Me
2
CX
2
were also unsuccessful. We postu-
late that the inductive effect of the methyl substituents that is
expected to stabilise any developing positive charge is countered
by their steric bulk, impeding nucleophilic attack.
In summary, we have prepared two series of compounds based on
2 2
Me E(OTf) (E = Si, Ge or Sn) acceptors ligated by dmap or bipy
donors. The solid-state structures implicate cationic complexes for
silicon in which one or both of the triflate anions can be regarded as
non-coordinating, and neutral six-coordinate complexes for tin,
in which both triflate anions coordinate to the Sn centre. The
germanium complexes exhibit intermediate structural features.
The distinct structural trends contrast previous observations for the
corresponding complexes of EX (X = Cl or Br), which have been
4
characterised as octahedral molecular compounds. Ongoing work in
our laboratories targets complexes of tetrael acceptors bearing higher
numbers of weakly coordinating anions, which we perceive will lead
to significant structural diversity, and novel bonding.
We thank the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of
Canada (NSERC) for funding.
Notes and references
1
2
3
J. A. McCleverty and T. J. Meyer, Comprehensive Coordination Chemistry
II: From Biology to Nanotechnology, Elsevier, 2nd edn, 2003.
J. Burt, W. Levason and G. Reid, Coord. Chem. Rev., 2014, 260,
65–115.
E. MacDonald, L. Doyle, S. S. Chitnis, U. Werner-Zwanziger,
N. Burford and A. Decken, Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 7922–7924.
W. Levason, D. Pugh and G. Reid, Inorg. Chem., 2013, 52, 5185–5193.
I. R. Beattie and G. A. Ozin, J. Chem. Soc. A, 1970, 370–377.
I. R. Beattie, M. Milne, M. Webster, H. E. Blayden, P. J. Jones,
R. C. G. Killean and J. L. Lawrence, J. Chem. Soc. A, 1969, 482–485.
O. Bechstein, B. Ziemer, D. Hass, S. I. Trojanov, V. B. Rybakov and
G. N. Maso, Z. Anorg. Allg. Chem., 1990, 582, 211–216.
4
5
6
Fig. 3 Solid-state structures of (a) [Me
2
Si(bipy)(OTf)][OTf ], (b) [Me
2
Ge-
2 2
(bipy)(OTf )][OTf ] and (c) Me Sn(bipy)(OTf) . All hydrogen atoms are omitted
7
for clarity.
8
9
R. Hulme, G. J. Leigh and I. R. Beattie, J. Chem. Soc., 1960, 366–371.
G. R. Willey, U. Somasunderam, D. R. Aris and W. Errington, Inorg.
Chim. Acta, 2001, 315, 191–195.
Table 2 Selected solid-state parameters for Me
Covalent Mean E–N N–E–N
2
E(bipy)(OTf)
2
1
1
0 I. R. Beattie, T. Gilson, M. Webster and G. P. McQuillan, J. Chem.
Soc., 1964, 238–244.
1 G. W. A. Fowles, D. A. Rice and B. A. Walton, Spectrochim. Acta, Part
A, 1969, 25, 1035–1036.
C–E–C
Shortest
E–OTf (Å)
E
radius (Å) bond length (Å) angle (1) angle (1)
Si
1.16
1.918(2)
1.968(1)
2.255(1)
81.8(1)
81.81(5)
73.18(4)
128.5(1)
133.34(7) 2.495(1)
159.42(6) 2.336(1)
1.924(2)
12 J. P. Clark and C. J. Wilkins, J. Chem. Soc. A, 1966, 871–873.
13 L. A. Aslanov, V. M. Ionov, V. M. Attiya, A. B. Permin and
V. S. Petrosyan, J. Struct. Chem., 1978, 19, 166–169.
Ge 1.21
Sn 1.40
1
1
1
4 E. MacDonald, L. Doyle, N. Burford, U. Werner-Zwanziger and
A. Decken, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed., 2011, 50, 11474–11477.
5 M. Driess, C. Mons ´e , K. Merz and C. van W u¨ llen, Angew. Chem., Int.
Ed., 2000, 39, 3684–3686.
6 A. C. Tagne Kuate, M. Sch u¨ rmann, D. Schollmeyer, W. Hiller and
K. Jurkschat, Chem. – Eur. J., 2010, 16, 8140–8146.
differences observed between derivatives of Me
again contrast the uniform geometries reported for the corres-
2 2
E(bipy)(OTf)
ponding adducts of EX (X = Cl or Br), for which cis-octahedral
4
17 P. Farina, T. Latter, W. Levason and G. Reid, Dalton Trans., 2013, 42,
complexes, EX (L–L), are exclusively formed.
4714–4724.
4
1
1
8 J. L. Dutton and P. J. Ragogna, Coord. Chem. Rev., 2011, 255, 1414–1425.
9 The extension of this study to Me PbX was not attempted due to the
relative instability of this class of compound towards disproportio-
nation to yield Pb(II) products.
0 SCR values are calculated from the mean single-bond covalent radii
reported in P. Pyykk ¨o and M. Atsumi, Chem. – Eur. J., 2009, 15,
Attempts to prepare the corresponding carbon derivatives
2
2
[
Me
ESI†). Nevertheless, compounds of the form [H
can be formed via the activation of haloalkanes, including
C(dmap) ][X] (X = Cl or I), and exhibit a tetrahedral geometry
2 2 2 2 2
C(dmap) ][OTf ] and [Me C(bipy)][OTf ] were unsuccessful (see
4,22–24
2 2 2
C(Donor) ][X]
2
[H
2
2
2
186–197. These values are provided as a qualitative guide, recogniz-
at carbon, in-line with our experimentally observed trends for Si, Ge
and Sn. Remarkably, [H C(dmap) ][Cl] has been reported to form
ing that heteroatomic bonds have a significant ionic component.
1 E. R. T. Tiekink, V. J. Hall, M. A. Buntine and J. Hook, Z. Kristallogr.,
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2000, 215, 23–33.
spontaneously under ambient conditions upon dissolution of dmap
2 A. B. Rudine, M. G. Walter and C. C. Wamser, J. Org. Chem., 2010, 75,
4292–4295.
3 J. S. Driscoll, D. W. Grisley, Jr., J. V. Pustinger, J. E. Harris and
C. N. Matthews, J. Org. Chem., 1964, 29, 2427–2431.
4 S. Munavalli, E. J. Poziomek and C. S. Day, Acta Crystallogr., Sect. C:
Cryst. Struct. Commun., 1988, 44, 272–275.
22
in CH
heating of a solution of dmap in Me
upon thermolysis of a toluene solution of Me
2
Cl
2
.
In contrast, no such reaction is observed upon the
CCl over 100 h at 75 1C, nor
CX (X = Cl or Br) and
2
2
2
2
dmap at over 42 h 100 1C. Attempts to facilitate the interaction by
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