Hypervalent and binuclear silicon and germanium derivatives from bis-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-2-phenol)-oxamide

The reactions of bis-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-2-phenol)oxamide (1) with Cl₂SiR₂ (Me or Ph) or Cl₂GeR₂ (Me, nBu or Ph) in THF provided binuclear pentacoordinated silicon and germanium compounds: bis-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-2-oxo-phenyl)-oxamido-bis-dimethylsilane (2), bis-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-2-oxo-phenyl)-oxamido-bis-diphenylsilane (3), bis-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-2-oxo-phenyl)-oxamido-bis-dimethylgermane (4), bis-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-2-oxo-phenyl)-oxamido-bis-di-n-butylgermane (5) and bis-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-2-oxo-phenyl)-oxamido-bis-diphenylgermane (6). The mono-nuclear tetracoordinated silicon compounds N-acetyl-bis-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-2-oxo-phenyl)-amide-bis-(dimethylsilane) (8) and N-acetyl-bis-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-2-oxo-phenyl)-amide-bis-(diphenylsilane) (9) were synthesized from N-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-2-phenol)acetamide (7) and Cl₂SiR₂ (R = Me and Ph). Comparison of the ²⁹Si NMR chemical shifts of the penta- (2 and 3) and tetracoordinated (8 and 9) silicon compounds provided information about the intramolecular coordination of the carbonyl group to the silicon atom. Compounds 3 and 6 were characterized by single-crystal X-ray analyses. They have planar hexacyclic structures where the central atoms present distorted tbp geometries with one nitrogen and two carbon atoms in equatorial positions and two oxygen atoms in apical positions.