Synthesis and X-ray crystallographic characterisation of o-phenylenediamidomagnesium·tetrahydrofuran: the first octahedral Mg6 cluster

Abstract

Crystals of o-phenylenediamidomagnesium·tetrahydrofuran, prepared at the interface of a sec-butyl-n-butyl magnesium in heptane–o-phenylenediamine in THF bilayered solution, have been shown by an X-ray diffraction study to consist of unprecedented, discrete octahedral Mg₆ clusters, held in place by six bridging, divalent, N-bonding ligands, and solvated by THF molecules to give the Mg atoms a five-coordinate, square-based pyramidal geometry overall.