Synthesis of mixed-metal Li/M, M/M ' and mixed valence M-I/M-III chelate amido complexes of the heavy Group 13 metals (M = In, Tl)

Reaction of the difunctional lithium amide [H2C{CH2N(Li)SiMe3}(2)](2), (2) or its ether adduct [H2C{CH2N(Li-THF)SiMe3}(2)] (3) with MCl3 (M = In, Ga, Tl) gave the mixed metal amides [{CH2(CH2NSiMe3)(2)}(2)M-Li(THF)(2)] (M = I n: 4, Ga: 5, Tl: 6) which are highly fluctional in solution. Metal exchange of the thallium(I) amide with MCl3 yielded the mixed-metal/valent species [{CH2(CH2NSiMe3)(2)}(2)(MTlI)-Tl-III] (M = In: 7, Tl: 8) both of which were characterized by X-ray crystallography and found to have the trivalent met al at the centre of a distorted tetrahedral coordination sphere of the amid e donors while the monovalent Tl atom bridges two such donor functions. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.