Homoleptic amides of zinc, cadmium, and mercury

ZnCl2, CdCl2 and HgCl2 react with the lithium salts (1a-5a) of the sterical ly demanding secundary amines HN(SiMe3)Ph (1), HN(SiMe3)C6H3Me2-2,6 (2), HN (SiMe3)(C6H3Pr2)-Pr-i-2,6 (3), HN(SiMe3)(C6H3Bu2)-Bu-t-2,5 (4), and HN(SiMe 2NMe2)(C6H3Pr2)-Pr-i-2,6 (5) yielding the corresponding homoleptic metal am ides Zn[N(SiMe2R')R](2) (1b-5b), Cd[N(SiMe2R')R](2) (1c, 5c), and Hg[N(SiMe 2R')R](2) (1d-5d), respectively. Except the dimeric {Zn[N(SiMe3)Ph](2)}(2) (Ib), all complexes are monomeric. The compounds were characterized by elem ental analyses, molecular weight determinations, NMR and mass spectra. Furt hermore, the zinc amides (1b-5b) and the mercury amides 1d-3d and 5d were c haracterized by single crystal X-ray structure analysis. Except 1b and 5b, they show a linear N-M-N arrangement.