Structural Diversity of Tris(2‐hydroxyaryl)methane‐Derived Aluminium Complexes

Tris(2‐hydroxyaryl)methane ligands coordinate to main group and transition metals in a variety of modes. However, for aluminium, only trinuclear complexes have previously been reported. To investigate the possibility of also developing both mono‐ and dinuclear aluminium complexes, the reactions of Et3Al and tris(2‐hydroxyaryl)methanes have been examined under various conditions. In this work, trialuminium complex 1b was formed by disproportionation of the initially generated monomeric complex 2′ (Al/ligand = 1:1) with Et3Al. This reaction allowed us to selectively synthesize aluminium complexes 1b, 2, 5, and 7 with different coordination modes. Furthermore, mononuclear complex 5b underwent rearrangement to yield the tris(aryloxy) complex 8 in C6D6 under the appropriate conditions.