Novel Dialkyl Aluminum Bis(iminophosphorano) Methanide and Methanediide Complexes

Reaction of bis{trimethylsilyliminodi(phenyl)phosphorano}methane, H 2 C(Ph 2 P NSiMe 3 ) 2 ( 1 ) with 1 equiv of trimethylaluminum in toluene gave a four-coordinated alkyl aluminum complex of the formula [AlMe 2 {HC(Ph 2 P NSiMe 3 ) 2 - κ 2 N,N ‘ }] ( 2 ) via the elimination of methane. The crystal structure confirms the monomeric nature of the complex and the bidentate coordination of the bisiminophosphoranomethanide ligand to aluminum. Reaction of 1 with 2 equiv of trimethylaluminum yielded the novel bimetallic complex [(AlMe 2 ) 2 {μ 2 -C(Ph 2 P NSiMe 3 ) 2 - κ 4 C,C ‘,N,N ‘ }] ( 3 ), in which the methylene backbone carbon has been doubly deprotonated.