Dimethylcalcium synthesis cracked

Abstract

Dimethylcalcium may sound like a simple compound, but its synthesis has eluded chemists. Researchers reported a synthesis 60 years ago, but no one has reproduced it, casting doubt on whether dimethylcalcium was actually made that first time. Now, Reiner Anwander and coworkers at Eberhard Karls University of Tubingen have succeeded in synthesizing dimethylcalcium via a metathesis reaction between methyllithium and calcium bis(trimethylsilyl)amide (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, DOI: 10.1021/jacs.7b12984). A synthesis of methylcalcium compounds could lead to new catalysts or reagents for forming carbon-carbon bonds. “Although methylcalcium compounds have been discussed for more than a century, they’ve always been ill defined and probably impure,” says Michael S. Hill of the University of Bath. “The isolation and definitive characterization of these compounds is a real synthetic achievement, and the paper as a whole is a striking piece of work.” The hardest part of making dimethylcalcium turned out to be finding ap...