Paramagnetic aluminium–1,4-di-t-butyl-1,4-diazabutadiene (dbdab) complexes derived from metal vapours and/or metal hydrides: crystal structures of [Al(dbdab) ₂ ] and [Al(dbdab){N(Bu t )CH ₂ } ₂ ]

Reaction of aluminium vapour or LiAlH4–aluminium metal–hexane with 1,4-di-t-butyl-1,4-diazabutadiene (dbdab) yields dark green [Al(dbdab)2](1), whereas AlH3·NMe3 with dbdab in hexane at –80°C yields the corresponding hydroalumination product [Al(dbdab){N(But)CH2}2](2) as a yellow solid; although both compounds are paramagnetic, XPS (solid) and EPR (solution) spectroscopy, and X-ray structure determinations support formally AlIII centres with the unpaired electron ligand-centred.