New organogermanium cations [RGe(OCH2CH2NME2)2]+ with intramolecular N→Ge coordination bonds

New organohalogermanes RGe(OCH₂CH₂NMe₂)₂X (R = Ph, X = I (5); R = Me, X = Cl (6) or I (7)) with an intramolecular N→Ge coordination bond were synthesized. According to the ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopic data, iodides 5 and 7 exist in solution as ionic compounds with the pentacoordinated germanium atom. In solution of compound 4 (R = Ph, X = Cl), there is an equilibrium between the ionic and covalent forms. The equilibrium shifts toward the ionic form with increasing solvent polarity or temperature. In solution, chloride 6 is a covalent compound. The structures and relative stabilities of different isomers of compounds 4–7 were studied by quantum chemical calculations at the density functional level of theory. Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 5, pp. 892–900, May, 2007.