An anionic heterosiliconoid with two germanium vertices.

The two-electron reduction of the dismutational isomer of a 1,4-digermatetrasilabenzene cleaves one of the aryl groups in ligato-position and thus yields an unsaturated anionic Ge2Si4 cluster (digermatetrasila-benzpolarenide) with the negative charge at a Ge center. The regioselective positioning of the germanium centers in one nudo- and one ligato-position provides insight into the rearrangement of the Si4E2-scaffold of the dismutational isomers of hexatetrelbenzenes under reductive conditions with concomitant aryl group cleavage (E = Si and Ge).