Aluminium, zinc, gallium, and cadmium complexes supported by a monoanionic [N2P2] ligand.

Metal-halide complexes of main-group metals Al, Ga, Zn, and Cd supported by the new sterically and electronically versatile monoanionic ligand, (t)BuN(H)SiMe(2)N(CH(2)CH(2)P(i)Pr(2))(2), H[N(2)P(2)], are described. The metal-alkyl complex [N(2)P(2)]AlMe(2) (4) was prepared by two metathesis reactions of [N(2)P(2)]AlCl(2) (1) and 2MeLi, as well as [N(2)P(2)]Li and Me(2)AlCl. All compounds were characterized by standard analytical techniques; in addition, [N(2)P(2)]AlCl(2) (1), [N(2)P(2)]GaCl(2) (3), and [N(2)P(2)]CdCl(2) (6) were characterized by single-crystal X-ray crystallography. The potentially tetradentate ligand enforces a tetrahedral geometry at each metal by adopting two coordination modes: kappa(2)-NP (Al, Ga) and kappa(3)-NP(2) (Cd).