Structural Diversity of Tris(2‐hydroxy­aryl)methane‐Derived Aluminium Complexes

Abstract

Tris(2-hydroxyaryl)methane ligands coordinate to main group and transition metals in a variety of modes. However, for aluminium, only trinuclear complexes have previously been reported. To investigate the possibility of also developing both mono- and dinuclear aluminium complexes, the reactions of Et3Al and tris(2-hydroxyaryl)methanes have been examined under various conditions. In this work, trialuminium complex 1b was formed by disproportionation of the initially generated monomeric complex 2′ (Al/ligand = 1:1) with Et3Al. This reaction allowed us to selectively synthesize aluminium complexes 1b, 2, 5, and 7 with different coordination modes. Furthermore, mononuclear complex 5b underwent rearrangement to yield the tris(aryloxy) complex 8 in C6D6 under the appropriate conditions.