The first example of a monomeric alumatrane

The novel five-coordinate aluminum adduct Me(2)HN. AlL (2) wherein L = tris(2-oxy-3,5-dimethylbenzyl)amine] containing three six-membered rings has been characterized by spectroscopic and by X-ray means. This adduct of an alumatrane is the first structurally characterized monomeric alumatrane derivative, and unlike its parent alumatrane Al(OCH(2)CH(2))(3)N](x), 2 is monomeric in the gas, solution, and solid states. The X-ray molecular structure of 2 reveals a tricyclic cage moiety of C(3) symmetry. The aluminum geometry is a slightly distorted trigonal bipyramid in which, quite unexpectedly, the metal atom is located somewhat below the plane formed by three equatorial oxygens and its Al-N(tertiary) bond is shorter than that in Me(3)N.AlH(3).NMe(3) (Heitsch, C. W.; Nordman, C. E.; Parry, R. W. Inorg. Chem. 1963, 2, 508).