Syntheses and Structures of Novel λ3,λ3-Phosphanylalumanes Fully Bearing Carbon Substituents and Their Substituent Effects

Abstract

The novel phosphanylalumanes, Al–P single-bond species, fully bearing carbon protecting groups on aluminum and phosphorus atoms, are synthesized by the reactions of aluminum monohalides [(t-Bu)2AlBr and (C6F5)2AlCl·0.5(toluene)] with Mes2PLi. Regarding the t-Bu system, λ3,λ3-phosphanylalumane is obtained. Concerning the C6F5 system, on the other hand, the corresponding LiCl complex, λ4,λ4-phosphanylalumane, is obtained. The Al–P bond lengths of C6F5-substituted λ3,λ4-, and λ4,λ4-derivatives are much shorter than those of the reported λ3,λ4-phosphanylalumane derivatives and comparable to that observed for the previously reported λ3,λ3-phosphanylalumanes. Theoretical calculations reveal that the binding of the C6F5 groups to Al results in a large contribution of Al and a large s-character in the Al–P bond of phosphanylalumanes. Considering t-Bu-substituted phosphanylalumanes, the Al–P bond lengths reflect the coordination number of Al, showing a longer Al–P bond length in the case of λ4-Al as compared with that of λ3-Al. Combining the structural, spectroscopic, and theoretical results, the t-Bu-substituted λ3,λ3-phosphanylalumane has well separated vacant p orbital and lone pairs, which is suitable for reactivity studies.