Formation and structure of the first metal complexes comprising amidinoguanidinate ligands

Abstract

The first metal complexes comprising amidinoguanidinate ligands have been prepared and structurally characterized, namely bis[μ-N,N′,N′′,N′′′-tetraisopropyl-1-(1-butylamidinato)guanidinato-κ3 N 1,N 2:N 2]bis[(tetrahydrofuran)lithium], [Li2(C18H37N4)2(C4H8O)2], (2), and [bis(tetrahydrofuran)lithium]-di-μ-chlorido-{(N,N′-dicyclohexyl-1-butylamidinato-κ2 N 1,N 2)[N,N′,N′′,N′′′-tetracyclohexyl-1-(1-butylamidinato)guanidinato-κ2 N 1,N 2]holmate(III)}, [HoLiCl2(C4H8O)2(C17H31N2)(C30H53N4)], (3). The novel lithium amidinoguanidinate precursors Li[nBuC(=NR)(NR)C(NR)2] [1: R = Cy (cyclohexyl), 2: R = iPr) were obtained by treatment of N,N′-diorganocarbodiimides, R - N=C=N - R (R = iPr, Cy), with 0.5 equivalents of n-butyllithium under well-defined reaction conditions. An X-ray diffraction study of 2 revealed a ladder-type dimeric structure in the solid state. Reaction of anhydrous holmium(III) chloride with in situ-prepared 2 afforded the unexpected holmium 'ate' complex [nBuC(=NCy)(NCy)C(NCy)2]Ho[nBuC(NCy)2](μ-Cl)2Li(THF)2 (3) in 71% yield. An X-ray crystal structure determination of 3 showed that this complex contains both an amidinate ligand and the new amidinoguanidinate ligand.