Synthesis and X-ray crystal structure determination of tetrahydrofuran adducts of two terphenyllithium compounds

The molecular structures of two terphenyl-lithium derivatives, namely dimer ic [DppLi](2)(THF) (1) and monomeric DnpLi(THF)(2) (2) (Dpp = 2,6-diphenylp henyl; Dnp = 2, 6-di(1-naphthyl)phenyl) are reported, which feature differe ntly aggregated structures in the solid state. The main features of both mo lecular structures are the different coordination environments for the true lithium atoms in dimeric 1 and a trigonalplanar coordination geometry arou nd the three coordinate lithium atom in monomeric 2.