Bi‐ and tridentate coordination behaviour of a novel bis(phosphinimino)methanide ligand

Abstract

Herein, we report the synthesis of a novel ferrocenyl functionalized bis(phosphinimino)methane ligand (CH2(PPh2NFc)2). Deprotonation of CH2(PPh2NFc)2 with KN(SiMe3)2 gave the dimeric species [K{CH(PPh2NFc)2}]2, which was further reacted with ECl2 (E = Ge, Sn) to yield the tetrylene compounds [{CH(PPh2NFc)2}ECl]. The ligand and the resulting tetrylenes were examined for their redox chemical properties by cyclovoltammetric measurements. Furthermore, the reaction of the tetrylenes [{CH(PPh2NFc)2}ECl] with [AuC6F5(tht)] resulted in the bimetallic complexes [{(AuC6F5)CH(PPh2NFc)2}ECl] with an unusual Au coordination on the ligand backbone.