Reactivity of ketenyl anions towards ammonia

Key Points

• The aim is to explore how alkali metal ketenyls react with ammonia and the products formed.
• Synthesize alkali metal ketenyls with strong electron-withdrawing groups.
• Expose these ketenyls to ammonia under controlled conditions.
• Analyze reaction products and structures using suitable characterization techniques.
• Formation of beta-ketoamides from the reaction with ammonia.
• Activation of all N–H bonds leading to the formation of trianionic triamides.
• Observation of unique planar triangular {K 6 } 6+ array structures in dimers.