A DINUCLEAR HOLMIUM(III) CARBONS APART CARBORANE CLUSTER, [C34H92B8CL4HO2LI2N6SI4].C10H8

The title compound (1), 1-[(mu-Cl)(2)Li(TMEDA)]-2,2',4,4'-(SiMe(3))(4) 5',6,6'-[(mu-H)(4)Ho(TMEDA)(mu-Cl)(2)Li(TMEDA)]-1, 1'-commo-Ho(2,4-C2 B4H4)(2).C10H8 (where TMEDA is tetramethylethylenediamine), bis-[mu-2 kappa(2)H(B5), H-B6 : 3 (2, 3, 4, 5, 6-eta)-2,4-bis(trimethylsilyl)-2, 4- dicarba-nido-hexaborate(6)] tetra-mu-chloro-1:2 kappa(4)Cl;3:4 Cl-t ris(N,N,N',N'-tetramethyl-1,2-ethanediamine)-1 kappa(2)N,N'; 2 kappa(2 )N,N';4 kappa(2)N,N'-1,4-dilithium-2,3-diholmium naphthalene solvate, crystallizes in the triclinic space group P (1) over bar. The cluster consists of an Ho-III 'carbons apart' carborane bent-sandwich complex bridging almost symmetrically to an exo-polyhedral Li(TMEDA) unit via two Cl atoms and, via two B-H(terminal) groups of each opposing C2B3 f ace, to an exo-polyhedral Ho-III(TMEDA) unit that is also linked to an other exo-polyhedral Li(TMEDA) group with two Ho-Cl-Li bridges. The ce ntrally located Ho atom is almost symmetrically bonded to two opposing 'carbons apart' C2B4 carborane cages with Ho1 ... Cnt1 2.340, Ho1 ... Cnt2 2.349 Angstrom, Cnt1 ... Ho1 ... Cnt2 130.2, Cnt1 ... Ho1 ... C1 1 107.1, Cnt1 ... Ho1 ... C12 107.1, Cnt2 ... Ho1 ... C11 109.1 and Cn t2 ... Ho1 ... C12 109.1 degrees, where Cnt is the centroid of the C2B 3 face of each.