Röntgenstrukturanalyse von 2,4,6-Tri(tert-butyl)phenyl-lithium · N,N,N′,N′-Tetramethylpropan-1,2-diamin: Eine monomere Organolithium-Verbindung

X-Ray Crystal-Structure Analysis of 2,4,6-Tri(tert-butyl)phenyllithium · N,N,N′,N′-Tetramethylpropane-1,2-diamine: a Monomeric Organolithium Compound Tri(tert-butyl)phenyllithium is an important reagent for the preparation of derivatives of main-group elements with low coordination state as well as a highly hindered base for the generation of amine-free Li-enolates. Its monomeric nature in solution was previously deduced from NMR measurements. While Et₂O, THF, and N,N,N′,N′-tetramethylethylene-1,2-diamine (tmen) led to crystalline samples which were not suitable for structure analysis, the N,N,N′,N′-tetramethylpropane-1,2-diamine (tmpn) gave good single crystals of the title compound from Et₂O/hexane (disorder along the two-fold crystallographic axis running through Li? C(1) and C(4) of the Ph ring. The structure (Fig. 1, Table 1) has some remarkable features: (i) it is one of the very few monomeric organolithium compounds so far, (η¹-Li on aromatic ring); (ii) it has the rare trigonal-planar coordination of the Li-atom; iii) there are close contacts between the Li-atom arid one of the Me groups in each ortho-position (Fig. 3). The internal angle on the Ph-ring ipso-C-atom is 114°. This angle as well as those of the other known phenyllithium (Table 2), -magnesium, and -aluminum structures are included in a plot of ipso-angles against Pauling electronegativities (Fig. 2).