Tetra­kis(diethyl ether)tetra-μ4-oxido-octa­kis­(penta­fluoro­phen­yl)octa­zinc

Mol­ecules of the title compound, [Zn8(C6F5)8O4(C4H10O)4], are located on a special position of site symmetry . As a result, there is just one quarter-mol­ecule in the asymmetric unit. The title compound features a Zn4O4 cube. Each Zn atom in the cube carries a pentafluorophenyl substituent. Each O atom is bonded to a further Zn atom, which is connected to a pentafluorophenyl substituent and the O atom of a diethyl ether mol­ecule. All ether C atoms are disordered over two sets of sites with a site occupation factor of 0.51 (2) for the major occupied site

Dialumenes – aryl vs. silyl stabilisation for small molecule activation and catalysis

Main group multiple bonds have proven their ability to act as transition metal mimics in the last few decades. However, catalytic application of these species is still in its infancy. Herein we report the second neutral NHC-stabilised dialumene species by use of a supporting aryl ligand (3). Different to the trans-planar silyl-substituted dialumene (3Si), compound 3 features a trans-bent and twisted geometry. The differences between the two dialumenes are explored computationally (using B3LYP-D3/6-311G(d)) as well as experimentally. A high influence of the ligand's steric demand on the structural motif is revealed, giving rise to enhanced reactivity of 3 enabled by a higher flexibility in addition to different polarisation of the aluminium centres. As such, facile activation of dihydrogen is now achievable. The influence of ligand choice is further implicated in two different catalytic reactions; not only is the aryl-stabilised dialumene more catalytically active but the resulting product distributions also differ, thus indicating the likelihood of alternate mechanisms simply through a change of supporting ligand

Molecular oligogermanes and related compounds: Structure, optical and semiconductor properties

The optical (UV/Vis absorbance, fluorescence in the solid state and in solution) and semiconducting properties of a number of di- and trigermanes as well as related silicon- and tin-containing germanes, 1–6 ((p-Tol)3GeGeMe3 (1), Ph3SnGe(SiMe3)3 (2), (C6F5)3GeGePh3 (3), (p-Tol)3GeSiMe2SiMe3 (4), (p-Tol)3GeGeMe2Ge(p-Tol)3 (5), (p-Tol)3GeSiMe2SiMe2Ge(p-Tol)3 (6)) were investigated. Molecular structures of 5 and 6 were studied by X-ray diffraction analysis. All compounds displayed luminescence properties. In addition, a band gap (of about 3.3 eV) was measured for compounds 1–6 showing that those molecules display semiconductor properties