A lithium–aluminium heterobimetallic dimetallocene

Abstract Homobimetallic dimetallocenes exhibiting two identical metal atoms sandwiched between two η 5 bonded cyclopentadienyl rings is a narrow class of compounds, with representative examples being dizincocene and diberyllocene. Here we report the synthesis and structural characterization of a heterobimetallic dimetallocene, accessible through heterocoupling of lithium and aluminylene fragments with pentaisopropylcyclopentadienyl ligands. The Al–Li bond features a high ionic character and profits from attractive dispersion interactions between the isopropyl groups of the cyclopentadienyl ligands. A key synthetic step is the isolation of a cyclopentadienylaluminylene monomer, which also enables the structural characterization of this species. In addition to their structural authentication by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis, both compounds were characterized by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy in solution and in the solid state. Furthermore, reactivity studies of the lithium–aluminium heterobimetallic dimetallocene with an N-heterocyclic carbene and different heteroallenes were performed and show that the Al–Li bond is easily cleaved.