Synthesis and structures of a series of GeM (M=C, Si, and Sn) compounds derived from germyllithium containing three 2-(dimethylamino)phenyl groups on germanium

Abstract

Reactions of {tris[2-(dimethylamino)phenyl]germyl}lithium ( 1 ) with Group 14 electrophiles afford the corresponding carbogermane, silylgermane, and stannylgermane compounds containing three 2-(dimethylamino)phenyl groups on the germanium atom. X-ray structure analysis of these structures was performed and revealed that: (1) the steric repulsion between the amino groups and the substituents is mainly reflected by the torsion angle MGeC ipso C ortho ; (2) the N⋯M atomic distances are within the sum of the van der Waals radii; (3) in a series of the silylgermanes, the GeSi bond length increases as the size of the silyl group increases: SiH 3 ≤SiMe 2 H≤SiMe 3 ≤SiMe 2 t -Bu.