ORGANOALUMINUM COMPOUNDS - CLASSIFICATION AND ANALYSIS OF CRYSTALLOGRAPHIC AND STRUCTURAL DATA

This review covers the organometallic derivatives of aluminium. There are two associated reviews which cover inorganic and heterometallic al uminium complexes. There are over 350 of organoaluminium X-ray crystal lographic studies in which aluminium is found almost exclusively in th e +3 oxidation state. The most common geometry around aluminium is tet rahedral, but other arrangements with from three to ten donor sites ar e also found. Dimeric derivatives are the most common, followed by mon omeric derivatives. Higher degrees of oligomerization are also found, but there are only three examples which can be classified as polymers. Several examples exhibit metallic bonding between aluminium atoms. Wh ile the most common carbon bonded ligand is the methyl group, a variet y of other organic ligands are observed, including pi-bonding moieties . The structures are classified according to structural type, and corr elations between bonding parameters are noted. (C) 1997 Elsevier Scien ce S.A.