Aluminum triiodide induced complexation and structural rearrangement of the hexaphospha–pentaprismane cage, P 6C 4tBu 4

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

Treatment of P 6C 4 t Bu 4 with the Lewis acid AlI 3 in toluene at room temperature unexpectedly results in a structural rearrangement affording the ionic complex [P 6C 4 t Bu 4H][AlI 4] which was fully characterized by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy and a single crystal X-ray diffraction study. Supportive evidence that the reaction might involve a simple intermediate Lewis acid–base adduct [AlI 3(η 1-P 6C 4 t Bu 4)] came from the isolation on one occasion of small number of crystals of the bis-Al adduct [{AlI 3}μ-{P 6C 4 t Bu 4}{AlI 3}], whose molecular structure was also confirmed by a single crystal X-ray diffraction study.