Structural characterization of TaMe3Cl2 and Ta(PMe3)2Me3Cl2, a pair of five and seven-coordinate d0 tantalum methyl compounds

Abstract

The trimethylphosphine complex Ta(PMe₃)₂Me₃Cl₂ has been synthesized by addition of PMe₃ to TaMe₃Cl₂. The molecular structures of both TaMe₃Cl₂ and Ta(PMe₃)₂Me₃Cl₂ have been determined by X-ray diffraction thereby demonstrating that, in the solid state, these complexes respectively adopt trigonal bipyramidal and capped trigonal prismatic geometries.