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The potential of 3, 3, 3-trifluoro-1- (2-pyridyl) prop-1-en-2-ol (tfppOH) as a precursor to synthesize air-stable heavier tetrylenes (HTs), either free or coordinated, was examined. Thus, the stability toward air and water of the homoleptic HTs E (tfppO) 2 (E = Ge (1Ge), Sn (1Sn) ), which were previously reported by Mathur and coworkers and claimed to be highly air-stable, was evaluated together with that of the novel heteroleptic chloro-HTs E (tfppO) Cl (E = Ge (2Ge), Sn (2Sn) ). These analyses have shown that all these compounds are susceptible to undergo hydrolysis at room temperature, albeit at very different rates for each HT. DFT calculations have been used to study the mechanism of these hydrolytic processes. Additionally, a preliminary study of the coordination chemistry of these HTs was conducted. The reactions of 0. 5 equiv of Ir2Cl2 (μ-Cl) 2 (η5-Cp*) 2 with 2Ge cleanly afforded the Ge–Ir complex IrCl2 (η5-Cp*) κ1Ge-Ge (tfppO) Cl (3Ge) ; however, the analogous stannylene 2Sn led to a complex mixture, and the homoleptic derivatives 1E resulted in ligand degradation (formation of the HT-free complex IrCl (η5-Cp*) κ2N, O- (tfppO) (4) ). The Ge–Au complexes AuClκ1Ge-Ge (tfppO) 2 (5Ge) and AuClκ1Ge-Ge (tfppO) 22 (6Ge) could be prepared by reacting 1Ge with AuCl (tht) (tht = tetrahydrothiophene) ; however, only the precipitation of dark-purple solids was observed using 1Sn. On the other hand, both 1E were capable of rendering the diHT-Ag analogous compounds Agκ1E-E (tfppO) 22OTf (E = Ge (7Ge), Sn (7Sn) ) in their reactions with AgOTf. The air-stability of all these complexes in solution was proven to be similar or lower (for 7Sn) than that of the corresponding metal-free HTs.
García-Vega et al. (Sun,) studied this question.