Oxidative addition of group 13 and 14 metal halides and alkyls to Ga(DDP) (DDP = bulky bisimidinate)

The oxidative addition of a variety of group 13 and group 14 halides and alkyls R_aMX to the mono valent group 13 bis-imidinate Ga(DDP) (DDP = 2-{(2,6-diisopropyl-phenyl)amino}-4-{(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imino}-2-pentene) is reported. Accordingly, the insertion of Ga(DDP) into the Ga-Me bond of GaMe₃ yield in the complexes [{(DDP)GaMe}GaMe₂] (1) and [{(DDP)GaMe}₂GaMe] (2), respectively, which show a temperature-dependent equilibrium between 1 at higher temperatures and 2 at lower temperatures. In the case of GaCl₃, the only isolable product is [{(DDP)GaCl}₂GaCl] (3). The related reaction of SnMe ₂Cl₂ with Ga(DDP) yields the compound [Me ₂Sn{ClGa(DDP)}₂] (4), whereas SnMe₄ behaves inert. In the case of SiCl₄, only the monoinsertion product [Cl ₃Si{ClGa(DDP)}] (5) was observed. Finally, [(CH₃) ₃C{ClGa(DDP)}] (6) is synthesized by insertion of Ga(DDP) into the C-Cl bond of ClC(CH₃)₃. All new compounds were fully characterized by elemental analysis, NMR-spectroscopy, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis.