Carbene, alkene and alkane analogs of Indium

INOR 237

Ruti Pongtavornpinyo, ruti.pongtavornpinyo@imperial.ac.uk1, Michael S. Hill, mike.hill@imperial.ac.uk1, and Peter B. Hitchcock2. (1) Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London, Exhibition Rd, South Kensington, London, BN9 0RR, United Kingdom, (2) Department of Chemistry, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9QJ, United Kingdom
Although the nuclearity of In(I) ‘carbenes' is dependent upon the steric demands of the supporting beta-diketiminate ligand, it is shown by solution NMR diffusion (DOSY) methods that the In-In interactions observed in the solid-sate are very weak and not retained in solution. In contrast to carbon and its heavier congeners, group 13 elements are rarely observed to catenate into linear chains. We find that treatment of indium(I) iodide with a less sterically demandiong beta-diketiminate and a strong potassium base in tetrahydrofuran yields a hexa-indium chain. X-ray crystallography revealed one beta-diketiminate ligand bound to each In center with no bridging ligands supporting the five In-In single bonds. The terminal In centers were capped with iodine. Electronic spectroscopy and computations on a model compound offer preliminary support for sigma-delocalization along the chain.
 

Main Group Chemistry
7:00 PM-10:00 PM, Sunday, August 19, 2007 BCEC -- Exhibit Hall - B2, Poster

Division of Inorganic Chemistry

The 234th ACS National Meeting, Boston, MA, August 19-23, 2007