Contrasting Reactivities of Silicon and Germanium
Complexes Supported by an <i>N</i>‑Heterocyclic Guanidine
Ligand
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Abstract
We
report the synthesis of an acyclic two-coordinate germylene supported
by two bulky and electron donating <i>N</i>-heterocyclic
guanidine [IPrN]<sup>−</sup> ligands (IPr = [(HCNDipp)<sub>2</sub>C:]; Dipp = [2,6-<sup>i</sup>Pr<sub>2</sub>C<sub>6</sub>H<sub>3</sub>]), and its reactivity with molecular hydrogen to form IPrNH,
which presumably proceeds via the unstable intermediate [H<sub>2</sub>Ge(NIPr)<sub>2</sub>]. Our attempts to isolate the corresponding
silylene [:Si(NIPr)<sub>2</sub>] led
to an unexpected ligand activation/rearrangement process involving
N–C(aryl) bond cleavage within the <i>N</i>-heterocyclic
guanidine ligand; this transformation was also studied by computational
methods