Monomeric Homoleptic (2‐Pyridylmethyl)(tert‐butyldimethylsilyl)amido Complexes of the Divalent Metals Mg,Mn, Fe,Co, and Zn

The transamination reaction of M[N(SiMe₃)₂]₂ with (2‐pyridylmethyl)(tert‐butyldimethylsilyl)amine yields the corresponding homoleptic metal bis[(2‐pyridylmethyl)(tert‐butyldimethylsilyl)amides] of Mg ( 1 ), Mn ( 2 ), Fe ( 3 ), Co ( 4 ) and Zn ( 5 ). All these compounds crystallize from hexane isotypic in the space group C2/c. From toluene the zinc derivative precipitates as toluene solvate 5 ·toluene. The molecular structures of these compounds are very similar with large NMN angles to the amide nitrogen atoms with NMN values of 148° ( 1 ) and 150° ( 5 ) for the diamagnetic compounds and 156° for the paramagnetic derivatives 2 and 3 . The Co derivative 4 displays a rather small NCoN angle of 142°. Different synthetic routes have been explored for compound 3 which is also available via the metallation reaction of bis(2,4,6‐trimethylphenyl)iron with (2‐pyridylmethyl)(tert‐butyldimethylsilyl)amine and via the metathesis reaction of lithium (2‐pyridylmethyl)(tert‐butyldimethylsilyl)amide with [(thf)₂FeCl₂]. In course of the metathesis reaction, an equimolar amount of lithium (2‐pyridylmethyl)(tert‐butyldimethylsilyl)amide and [(thf)₂FeCl₂] yields heteroleptic (2‐pyridylmethyl)(tert‐butyldimethylsilyl)amido iron(II) chloride ( 6 ) which crystallizes as a centrosymmetric dimeric molecule. The oxidative C‐C coupling reaction of 5 with Sn[N(SiMe₃)₂]₂ leads to the formation of tin(II) 1,2‐bis(2‐pyridyl)‐1,2‐bis(tert‐butyldimethylsilylamido)ethane, tin metal and Zn[N(SiMe₃)₂]₂.