Digermylene Oxide Complexes: Facile Synthesis and Reactivity

Abstract

A simple heating of aminotroponiminate (ATI) ligand stabilized germylene monochlorides [(R)2ATIGeCl] (R = t-Bu 1, i-Bu 2) with an excess of potassium hydroxide in toluene resulted in the first ATI ligand stabilized digermylene oxides [{(R)2ATIGe}2O] (R = t-Bu 3, i-Bu 4), respectively. Reaction of compound 3 with elemental sulfur and selenium gave the first germaacid anhydride complexes [{(t-Bu)2ATIGe(E)}2O] (E = S 5, Se 6) with (S)Ge-O-Ge(S) and (Se)Ge-O-Ge(Se) moieties, respectively. The digermylene oxide complexes 3 and 4 and germaacid anhydride complexes 5 and 6 were characterized by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy and single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. In its (77)Se NMR spectrum, compound 6 showed a resonance at -78.9 ppm. The Ge-O-Ge bond angles in compounds 5 and 6 are 178.66(2)° and 179.81(2)°, respectively. To understand further the bonding features, DFT calculations followed by MO, AIM, and NBO analysis were carried out on compounds 3, 5, and 6. The computed Wiberg bond indices of Ge-O bonds are slightly less than 0.5 in all the aforementioned compounds, and the same for the Ge═E bonds in compounds 5 and 6 are close to 1.4.